The First Time I
by sanalayla
Summary: The first time I heard the name Scorpius Malfoy was when I was nine. There I was, standing right next to Hogwarts Express and staring at it with utter longing. I'd watched James go the year before...
1. Heard

_The first time…._

I heard the name Scorpius Malfoy was when I was nine. There I was, standing right next to Hogwarts Express and staring at it with utter longing. I'd watched James go the year before and now Albus, my other brother, was following. As usual, I was last in line to anything and I was feeling rather down about myself.

Then, I heard my Uncle Ron make a comment to my cousin Rose - while he indicated towards another family that was a few feet away - about a certain young man and how Rose shouldn't be friends with him. Rose turned to look at him critically while my Aunt Hermione admonished Uncle Ron for his comment.

I stifled a grin, because I knew that the very comment from my uncle was guaranteed to make Rose hunt that boy down and make him her very best friend within minutes. She's a rebel like that.

Sure enough, when I turned to my cousin and followed her gaze, I saw that she was staring at the young man with a speculative look in her eye. He, on the other hand, appeared to have not noticed her perusal, my uncle's comment, or even anything going on around him.

He looked, for want of a better way of describing it, as miserable as me. I thought that was odd, because I was miserable since I had to wait two more years before I could go to Hogwarts. This boy was going to Hogwarts, so he should be ecstatic! Like James had been the year before and Albie was this year. No one about to embark on a journey to Hogwarts should be looking down about the whole thing.

I began to make my way over to him, to tell him so, when my cousin Hugo came up to me and started talking about Hogwarts and everything we'd do when we finally got our turn. My attention diverted, I turned away from the young man with the misery in his deep, grey eyes. And, since I really had no reason to, I put thoughts of him out of mind and just focused on my own misery about being left behind.

_The second time…._

I heard his name was in the context of an argument my parents were having. Specifically about him. It was rare my parents fought, so I crept halfway down the stairs and dangled one of the Extendable Ears my cousin Fred had given me for Christmas to the first floor. Based on the snippets of conversation I'd heard up to that point, I'd gleaned that Albie had been sending owls home about his new friend and how he was really lonely. Something about how no one was nice to him at Hogwarts because of his father, and Albie wanted him to come our house for Christmas break.

"I don't care how lonely he is, Harry," my mum said in a hushed voice. "That family has never produced a good egg."

"Come on, Ginny," my dad replied. "You can't hold that against a poor eleven year old."

"He's in Slytherin!"

"Your son is in Slytherin," my dad reminded her.

"Yes, and I'm not happy about that, either," my mother answered, her voice rising a bit. "Honestly, I can't believe you told him to choose and he chose Slytherin. No good comes out of that house."

"They're not all bad," my dad said, after a pause. "I'm sure Al knew what he was doing."

"Not bad?" My mum seemed to take a minute to compose herself. "Do I need to remind you of my sixth year when all of Slytherin house stood in line to be able to torture innocent first years? Or the Final Battle, when none of them stood to defend Hogwarts?"

"And not all of them stood with the Death Eaters, either," my dad pointed out reasonably. "Ginny, I know it's hard, but isn't this what we fought for? The ability to live in a world where everyone is equal? Given a fair shake?"

My mum was quiet for a long minute and then I heard her let out a sigh. "Harry, you're too naïve. You can't honestly believe centuries of ingrained beliefs and traditions will just go up in smoke because you defeated a Dark wizard over a decade ago."

"Even a journey of ten thousand miles," my dad said, with a hint of a smile in his voice, "begins with one step. Let's take that step, Gin."

"Hhhmm." I heard rustling and then Mum's voice got even lower. "That is a very clever thing to say."

"It's an old Muggle saying," my dad responded, with a laugh. "But feel free to think I'm brilliant. Especially if makes you keep doing THAT."

"Oh right, I will." They were quiet for a second and I thought I heard some more rustling, but I couldn't be sure.

Then, my mum said, in a thoughtful tone, "And chances are quite high Malfoy won't even let his son come here. So, I suppose it's all right to let Al extend the invitation."

In the end, Mum was wrong. Al sent another owl a mere week later saying that Scorpius was delighted by the invitation and would be joining us for Christmas. No one was more surprised than my father, who hadn't honestly thought Scorpius would come. (I would learn, years later, that Scorpius told his father that it would do well for him to be seen as being liked by the "Potter boys" and that is what swayed Draco Malfoy to let his son go to his mortal enemy's house for the holidays. Scorpius may not be as evil as Malfoys have been for centuries, but he's not an idiot, either.)

_The third time…._

I heard Scorpius Malfoy's name was when I was first being introduced to him. He'd just arrived by Floo to our house, right at the beginning of winter break. My mother was just starting to ask him about his journey when I came running into the kitchen and then stopped short at the sight of him.

My entire life, I'd been surrounded by people with red hair (of varying shades), black hair (mainly my father and two brothers), and some sort of odd shades of brown in-between. My Aunt Fleur and my cousin, Victoire, had shimmering blonde hair that I'd envied my entire life, but they very rarely kept it down. But even their hair wasn't that light.

And, so, Scorpius was quite a shock to my system. Pale blonde hair, so pale it was almost white. He wore his hair shaggy, kind of long and falling over his eyes, as though he was trying to hide what he looked like. He looked entirely out of place in my kitchen, because he looked unlike any other person who'd stood there before.

At my entrance, he turned his gaze towards me and looked me straight in the eye. No smile. No change. Just very serious. His eyes looked like the color of mercury – the liquid metal thing that Muggle's put in things called thermometers (my Granddad had shown me one once). His eyes were gray, almost silver.

"This is my sister, Lily," Albus said, indicating towards me with a slight smile. "She'll be at Hogwarts in a couple of years."

"Hi, Lily," Scorpius said and then smiled at me. It was a lop-sided smile and made his eyes become a shade lighter.

My response? Was to squeak in embarrassment and hide behind my mother's skirt.

While my mother laughed and put her hand on my head, I heard my brother say, "All right, that's odd. Anyway, Scorp, let me show you my room."

It was a long time before I was able to actually to speak in front of him and even then, it wasn't ideal.


	2. Spoke

_The first time…._

I spoke in front of Scorpius was at a family dinner during winter break. It was Albus's second year, and I was aching to go to Hogwarts. There was a calendar on my wall that showed the marking down of dates as I got closer and closer to my eleventh birthday.

Scorpius had come for Christmas dinner, as he had the previous year, and my mother was very different than she had been when he'd first come. He was a shy and quiet child and seemed to have charmed my mother thoroughly, because she made just as much of a fuss over him as she did James and Albie.

The person who couldn't stand that was Teddy, my father's godson. He was staying with us for a few days during Winter break and he, along with his grandmother, had been invited for Christmas dinner.

For whatever reason, Teddy kept shooting Scorpius dirty looks, who appeared to be working very hard to ignore Teddy, as well. Albie and James seemed aware of the tension between the two boys, but didn't do much to help matters. James was a great favorite of Teddy's and hero-worshiped him. Albie was completely loyal to Scorpius, so – as these things go – tempers began to rise.

Which all led to Teddy calling Scorpius a dirty word.

My mum gasped and said, "THEODORE LUPIN. Apologize this instant!"

Teddy refused. Scorpius paled and stood up to leave.

And my father jumped up to his feet and said, sharply, "What is going on here? Teddy, Scorpius is a guest in our home -."

"A guest, Harry?" Teddy cried out. Now, he was standing, too, and glaring at my father. "How dare you invite him? After everything his father did? His grandfather? My parents are DEAD because of them!"

The entire table got very quiet. Teddy had never raised his voice with my father. In reality, no one ever raised their voices with my father. The entire world was too scared of him. And, yes, that included my own brothers who weren't really scared of anyone.

"I don't see how that's his fault," I stated, in what I considered to be my most reasonable tone. Certainly, I felt like I should be reasonable, given that I was pointing out the obvious. "After all, he wasn't even born then."

My father and Teddy both went from glaring at each other to looking at me. My mother's lips twitched, as though she wanted to laugh but really felt she shouldn't.

"Lily is right." Andromeda said, unexpectedly. She was a stately woman and I always felt she looked sad all the time. "How Draco and Lucius behaved all those years ago was terrible. They made bad choices. But," she added, in a firm voice as she looked directly at Scorpius, "You are my blood. You're my nephew. And Teddy is your cousin." Casting a sharp look at Teddy, she added, stiffly, "Given that you two have so very few people to call family, perhaps it's time you began acting like it."

After that pronouncement, Teddy sat down, muttering the apology his grandmother forced him to make. Scorpius looked down at his own plate the entire time, but accepted the apology when my mother prodded him. As we all went back to eating, I saw Scorpius glance towards me with a speculative look in his grey eyes. With a grin, I held up my bottle of butterbeer, pretended to give him a toast and then downed the whole bottle down in one shot. He laughed and then turned to Albie.

_The second time…._

I spoke in front of Scorpius Malfoy was at a time when I didn't want to be speaking to anyone. I was hiding under some stairs, right behind a statue, and I was in the process of trying not to cry.

It was my first year at Hogwarts and, so far, nothing had been going the way I'd always dreamed it would. For starts, I'd been sorted into Ravenclaw, and felt that the Sorting Hat had made an awful mistake. Ravenclaws were supposed to be extremely intelligent, but I barely managed to make it into my common room half the time, because I kept getting the questions wrong. Not to mention that my brother, James, was barely speaking to me, since he'd assumed I'd chosen Ravenclaw just as Albie had chosen Slytherin. He hated that he was the only Potter in Gryffindor, and seemed to be under the mistaken impression that both of his siblings wanted nothing to do with him.

And my cousins – all one hundred of them – kept telling me that they'd been convinced it would be ROSE who would be sorted in Ravenclaw, since she's so smart, and they were amazed that it had been me. Furthermore, the Ravenclaw house had figured that they had the Quidditch Cup in the bag, since I'd either turn out to be a brilliant Seeker like my father or an amazing Chaser like my mother. Imagine their surprise and horror when I revealed that I didn't play Quidditch and, in fact, didn't even enjoy watching it all that much.

All that had led to a pretty brutal Potions class, where two Ravenclaw second years had decided to let me know that they'd gotten the short straw of the Potter bunch as far as I was concerned. I couldn't help but agree with them.

I was mulling over all those things in the privacy of the darkness under the stairs, and I hadn't been able to keep the sobs at bay as well as I would have liked. Because the next thing I knew, someone was crawling into the space behind the statue and joining me in the darkness.

"_Lumos._"

The darkness banished just enough for me to make out the person holding the wand. I squinted at him.

"Scorpius?" Now, I felt even more terrible. Rubbing the arm of my jumper over my eyes and nose, I tried to dry up my tears and hoped he wouldn't see all the snot running down. I am fully aware that I'm not a pretty crier. My complexion gets all splotchy and I begin to look like I've broken out in hives. That's one of the reasons I always cry in private.

"Lily?" Scorpius didn't sound surprised, even though he said my name like a question. "What are you doing down here?"

"I… oh…." There was probably a story I could have made up on the spot. I'm very good at making up stories and am a fairly good writer. But as I looked across at him, I met his gaze and his eyes just looked so incredibly nice and inviting. So, I found myself telling him the truth. "Some second years. They were… teasing me. Because… you know."

Scorpius looked confused and troubled. "No, I don't know."

"I'm Lily Potter." I gazed down at my trainers and focused on pulling at a loose thread. "So, you know…."

I couldn't see him, but he sounded a little amused. "No, I still don't know."

So, I told him. It took awhile, but I just let it all pour out. And finished with, in shuddering breaths, "And… I… wanted to… come here… so BADLY… and… it's HORRIBLE." I was being a baby, but I couldn't help but say, "I want to go home. I hate it here!"

Scorpius, for his part, didn't say anything during my entire break-down. But when I was done, he patted my hand lightly and then dug into his robes. He pulled out a handkerchief with the Slytherin emblem on it and handed it to me. Patiently, he waited for me to pull myself together and to dry my tears. When I tried to hand the cloth back to him, he said, wryly, "Ah. You keep it."

I sniffed and said, "Thanks."

"Listen, Lily, I know how you feel." Scorpius shifted his wand hand down, so the light was no longer illuminating his face. I could no longer see him, but I heard his voice clearly. "The first year is the hardest. I wanted to go home every single day. I hated it here."

"So what did you do?" I asked him, hoping desperately that this worldly third year would have a magic formula to make me happy.

"I found a friend." There seemed to be a hint of a smile in Scorpius's voice. "Your brother. So my advice, for what it's worth, is for you to find your Albus. Go into Ravenclaw and look for that one person who's willing to see you. YOU. Not your parents, your brothers, or your cousins. Just Lily Potter. Once you make that one friend, everything else will sort itself out. You'll see."

Lifting up my own wand, I said, "_Lumos._" This time, he couldn't hide his face from me, since I was holding the light. "What if no one likes me?"

"Ah, Lily," Scorpius shook his head and smiled. "There is no way no one would like you."

Before I could respond, he extinguished the light from his wand and slid out of the darkness, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Later on, I did take his advice and I managed to find that one Ravenclaw girl who saw me for who I was. A first year who was there from the States, she was feeling even more lonely and lost than I was. We quickly became the best of friends and, before I knew it, my circle of friends grew in leaps and bounds. Soon enough, my days at Hogwarts were just as I had always imagined them years ago. Happy.

_The third time…. _

I spoke in front of Scorpius Malfoy was at a time when everyone in the room wished I wasn't there. Including me.

It was my second year at Hogwarts and Scorpius was staying with us for Easter break. My mum had set us all to work as soon as we'd arrived and that meant that James and Albus were off avoiding her. She'd managed to catch me and told me to change the sheets in the guest bedroom, because Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were coming for Easter dinner and planned to stay the night.

So, I barreled into the guest room, my arms full of linens, and stopped short when I saw Rose and Scorpius sitting on the bed. His arms were wrapped around her, her hands were in his hair, and they were kissing.

I let out a sound of horror and something that sounded akin to, "Good Godric Gryffindor, what the hell are you two doing?"

They both sprang apart at my exclamation. Rose let out a curse and Scorpius looked like he'd just been hit with a Bludger.

Jumping up, Rose ran towards me and started to push me out the door. "Get out, Lily."

"All right, all right," I said, as she shoved me out, rather forcefully, and then shut the door in my face. For several moments, I just stood there, dumbstruck, and then had the highly random thought that my mum was going to kill me because I hadn't changed the sheets.

Later that night, when all the adults had gone to bed, Rose joined me in my room and sat down on the spare bed in my room. She hugged her knees to her and looked at me. "Sorry. About that. Earlier, I mean."

I'd been avoiding her all day, as well as Scorpius. Although, Scorpius and I never really spoke to each other, so it hadn't been all that difficult to avoid him.

"I didn't know you liked him, Rose," I replied. "You could have told me."

Rose looked confused. "Why did you think I wanted to come to your place for the Easter holidays? Obviously, it was because I fancied him."

"Oh?" I raised my brow, feeling rather hurt. "I thought it was because I'm your favorite cousin!"

"You are my favorite cousin," Rose said, reassuringly, with a laugh. "It's just that… well… you know that Scorp and I are friends, right?"

"Yeah," I answered, truthfully. I may have been in Ravenclaw and a few years behind them, but even I knew what a big deal it was that Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy were good friends (since she was in Gryffindor and he was in Slytherin).

"Well, lately, I've just been feeling like there's something more." Rose stared off into the distance thoughtfully. "And, well, I also thought it's about time I kissed someone."

At that, I looked up with interest. "What?"

"I wanted my first kiss to be with someone I cared about," Rose explained. "And I figured your house would be more romantic of a setting than Hogwarts. So, I decided that Malfoy was the one and Easter break would be the time to go for it."

At this point, I was laughing so much my sides were starting to hurt. "You mean to tell me that you basically wrote out a plan for your first kiss?" It stood to reason; my cousin was nothing if not pragmatic.

"Well, yes." Rose looked slightly flabbergasted that I was even questioning it. "How can you leave something that important to chance? What if it had been a mistletoe situation gone awry? Or something equally terrible? I would not want THAT to be the story I told my grandchildren some day."

I sat up on the bed and looked over at her with a grin. "So, did it live up to your expectations? Was Scorpius story-worthy?"

"Yes." She hugged her knees tighter and, now, she got a far-a-away look in her eyes. "He was. Very much so." Then she cast me a sharp look. "Until you barged in."

"Sorry about that." Feeling guilty, I offered to make it up to her. "Why don't you steal away with him for a bit or something, and I'll cover for you? Tomorrow?"

Looking rather gratified, Rose got off the bed and came over to my side to give me a hug. "Thank you. And another thing – don't tell your brothers, okay? I don't want them to give Scorpius a hard time."

I really didn't understand why they would; they both seemed to like him enough. Well, my brother James didn't necessarily LIKE him, but he had no problems with Scorpius, either. But Albie really saw him as a brother, so I could see no reason why Rose should be worried.

But when I told her my thoughts, she just burst out laughing. "Just wait, Lils. The day you go on your first date? You'll see what I'm talking about."


	3. Fought

_A/N: Okay, this chapter is WAAYY longer than the other ones. Originally, this story was just supposed to be snippets of their romance over the years, but this chapter was difficult to write in snippet form. I'm not sure if the other chapters will be this long, but they could be._

**xxxxxx**

_The first time…_

I got into a fight with Scorpius Malfoy was in my fourth year at Hogwarts and all the students had just been told that there would be a ball to celebrate Valentine's Day, open only to fourth years and older. In an effort to make things a little more 'modern', it had been decided that the girls would be asking the boys out, as opposed to the other way around.

The entire school was abuzz with excitement. Even the third-years were getting in on the excitement, because they were convinced that some lonely girls would ask at least a few of the third-year boys to the ball. For me, the situation just seemed dire all around.

Both of my brothers were both incredibly popular with the opposite sex. For as long as I could remember, random giggling girls would make excuses to talk to them in the halls or drop their books in their presence, which would force both James and Albie to stop what they were doing and help them pick it up (my brothers, for all their flaws, are incredibly well mannered with girls because they know my mother would hex them to the next century if they weren't). While James seemed to thrive under all the attention and took it as his due, Albie was a lot more reserved and shy about it.

So, it was rather surprising (or maybe not) that Albie was the first of them to get a real girlfriend. In his fifth year, he asked out a nice girl by the name of Sabena Kingston and they'd been together ever since. She'd been around for the holidays a couple of times, although she was never allowed to spend the night. (For some reason, my parents would always get an odd look on their faces when Albie would ask them, in a huff, "WHY NOT?" And my father's response was always the same, "Because I was once a sixth year, mate.")

Leading up to the dance, then, I was in a bit of a tight spot. James had fifteen girls ask him within the first day, and he basically had to start writing down the names all the girls, since he couldn't keep track. Of course, Sabena asked my brother immediately, who agreed in an instant.

Knowing that they seemed to understand these situations a lot better than I did, I headed over the Gryffindor table one morning, where Albie was sitting next to James, eating breakfast with him.

I plopped myself down and asked them for advice on how to go about getting my own date and they both looked at each other with confusion and asked me, rather politely, if I had a fever.

"No one is going to go out with you, Lils." Albie buttered a piece of toast and then proceeded to stuff almost the whole thing in his mouth. "Noasfs kjowie ffarr maooad."

"What?" I said, feeling revolted.

"He said, 'not if they know what's good for them'," James translated, as he took a bite of porridge. "After all, you're our sister."

Blinking a bit, I said in a perplexed tone, "I don't understand. What does that got to do with anything?"

"They're afraid of us," James said, the pride in his voice evident. "Know that we'll beat the piss out of them if they look at you funny."

"I see," I said, a little slowly. My temper was starting to rise. And that meant that I was about to have one of those moments were I channeled my mother, much to my own chagrin. "James Sirius Potter. Have you been scaring off boys from me? And YOU," I turned to Albie, who was looking a little terrified. "YOU have no right to say anything! You're constantly snogging Sabena and sticking your hand up her shirt!" At his look of surprise, I said, "That's right, I've seen you. And just be grateful that little tidbit of info hasn't made it into my owls to Mum and Dad."

James and Albie exchanged a long look. Then, finally, Albie said, "Er… excellent point, Lils. Why don't you ask Scorp?"

Taken aback by the quick turnaround, I was immediately suspicious. "What?"

James jumped in. "Yes. I think that's an excellent suggestion." At my raised brow, he added, "Think about it. He's the only bloke you know that's not your relative."

"That's not true," I muttered under my breath. "I know some Ravenclaws." But it was true; none of the boys in Ravenclaw had ever really become my good friends. I was much more friendly with the girls.

James fixed me with a stern look. "How well do you know these Ravenclaws? What are their names? And ages?"

I rolled my eyes. "Cool it with the big brother routine. Just so you know, you're not the reason guys don't ask me out." My friend, Jemma, had told me in our second year why all the guys treated me like a leper. "It's because of Dad."

At that, both my brothers exchanged a look again, but this time it was one of confusion.

"Come again?" James asked. "What does our father have to do with anything?"

"He's Harry Potter," I told them, with another eye roll. "The man took down the Darkest wizard the world has seen in centuries. When he was seventeen. Do you honestly think any boy at Hogwarts is going to want to go out with his daughter?"

"But that doesn't make any sense, Lils," Albie said, in a fairly reasonable tone. "James and I have had girls -."

"I know." My disgust was very clear. "For some reason, the girls don't seem to realize that Mum is actually a lot scarier than Dad. They should really be the ones scared."

"Well, then, it's pretty obvious, Lily. You should ask Scorpius." Albie drank down the rest of his orange juice and then grinned at me. "He's not afraid of Dad. Not too much, at least."

Later that night, I thought about my brother's advice and arrived at the conclusion that it was probably the best situation I could hope for under the circumstances. So, the next day, I made my way over to the Slytherin table and awkwardly tapped Scorpius on the shoulder.

His surprise evident, he turned towards me and said, "Lily. Good morning."

"Can we…." I looked around at the Slytherin table, which had gone completely silent when I'd approached him. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Immediately, he stood up. "Of course."

Two of the girls sitting down the table a bit giggled and sang, "Lily and Scorpy, sitting in a…."

"Shut it," Scorpius said to them in a cool voice and with a raised brow. The two immediately shut up. Then he turned to me and said, with a frown, "Let's go."

With my cheeks burning, I led him through the Great Hall, feeling as though every pair of eyes were on us. I really had no idea why. After all, Rose hung out with him all the time and she was in Gryffindor. Was it that big of a deal if a Ravenclaw girl talked to the bloke for a minute? Especially when the girl's own brothers were friends with the guy?

When we'd finally made it out into the hallways, I found an empty classroom and ushered him in. Then I turned to face him.

He was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed in front of him, and one leg up as he rested a foot against the wall behind. His blonde hair had fallen into his eyes again and, for some odd reason, I felt a need to brush it back. I managed to restrain myself, though.

Scorpius broke the silence. "What is it, Lily?"

This was ridiculous. I'd known this boy since I was nine. And he'd spent many holidays with us over the years. Last summer, he'd spent a whole month at Godric's Hollow, even though I hadn't seen him much. I'd had Jemma over, so I'd been occupied with my own things. But, still, he'd been in my general vicinity! So, it really shouldn't be all that difficult.

I cleared my throat. "Uh… I was wondering. Would you…. Would you go to the Valentine's thing with me?"

Scorpius stared at me for a minute. One very long minute. And then said, in a rather flat voice, "No. I won't."

"Oh, good, I…." Then, I realized what he said and I stopped. "Wait, what?"

"I can't go to the dance with you," Scorpius said, in that flat tone again. "Sorry."

"Did someone already ask you, then?"

"No," he answered. Then, he hesitated and added, "Well, some girls have asked, but I'm not going with anyone."

I frowned. "Then, I don't understand. Why can't you just go with me?"

"It's…." Scorpius stared down at his shoes and then looked around the empty classroom. "It's complicated."

"What does that mean?" Then a thought occurred to me. "Is it because of Rose?"

His head snapped up and he met my gaze with genuine bafflement. "Rose? What do you mean?"

"Well, you two…." My voice trailed off. "Are you still pining over her? Because, let me tell you, she's pretty happy with Simon."

Scorpius let out a loud laugh. "No. Of course not. I'm not pining over your cousin." He smiled at me. "Rose and I only went out for about six months, Lils. And we both mutually ended it."

"Well, then," I began, feeling a little irritated that he was talking to me as though I were a child, "if you don't have another date and it's not about Rose, then what IS it?"

"Nothing. It's nothing," Scorpius said, vaguely. He was starting to look incredibly uncomfortable. He was glancing around the empty classroom as though he wanted to be looking at anyone but me.

"Am I that revolting?" I asked, somewhat desperately. "I mean, I know I'm not that much in the looks department, but I'm sure I'll look decent enough at the thing."

I'd never really harbored any delusions about my looks. Unlike my brothers, I'd inherited my mother's red hair and propensity towards freckling in the sun. To make matters more interesting, I'd also inherited my father's knobby knees and my mother's plain brown eyes.

(Al had gotten the jackpot of the gene pool; scoring not only my dad's green eyes, but also the dark hair and the perfect metabolism from my mother's side, as well as the height from my uncles. My other brother, James, had gotten the blue eyes from my uncles, as well as the dark hair and seeker's build from my father. Girls lined up in queues just to talk to him. Me? We've already established that guys kept a wide berth from my presence.)

Scorpius's eyes were wide with disbelief. "Revolting? How in the name of Merlin's white beard could you possibly think you're revolting?" He calmed down a bit, and then said, quietly, "No. I don't think you're revolting. You're quite lovely. It's just that…."

"What?"

"I think you should ask someone your own age." His motions abrupt, he turned away from me and started to head out the door. "Go with someone in your own year. I'm too old."

Now, I was beginning to get a little pissed off. I followed him out the door. "I'm not asking for your hand in marriage, Scorpius. I mean, _honestly_."

With gritted teeth, he turned towards me and began walking backwards, away from me, very quickly. "The answer is no, Lily. But good luck." Then he disappeared around the corner, leaving me fuming after him.

**xxx**

Later that night, I was in the library attempting to write a very long and boring essay on the Goblin Wars of 1290 for my History of Magic class, when one of the Hufflepuffs from my year came to my table. He sat down next to me and cleared his throat.

With more than a little irritation, I looked over at him and scowled. "What do you want, Hamish? I'm in the middle of something."

"I wanted to know if you wanted to go the ball with me," he said in a rush, looking about a bit nervously.

Taken aback, I dropped my quill. "What?" It took a second to recover, but then I did. "I… uh…. You do realize I'm supposed to ask _you_, right?"

"I know." He shifted in his seat a bit awkwardly. "But, you know, some guys are asking the girls, anyway, and I just thought…." His voice trailed off and he stuck his fingers under his collar, pulling at it uncomfortably.

"Hamish," I began, feeling more than a little confused, "you and I have had a grand total of maybe three conversations since we started at Hogwarts. Why on earth do you want to go with me?"

"I…." His eyes darted towards the back of the library, where a group of sixth years were talking and joking with each other. I immediately made out the person he was looking at.

"Scorpius Malfoy." My teeth gritted and I stood up, slamming the manuscript shut in front of me. Stalking towards him, I said, "I cannot believe you did this! What is _wrong_ with you?"

Scorpius attempted - and failed - at looking innocent. "What? What do you mean?"

Taking in a deep breath, I looked around, a little wildly. My eyes landed on the first person I recognized. "Lysander!"

Lysander looked up with a start. In fact, everyone in the library looked up, because my voice had carried and, as libraries are wont to be, the place had been pretty silent before my bellow.

"Yeah, Lily?" Lysander had the customary calm expression on his face. He'd inherited it from his mother, who also never looked like anything could get her riled up. "What's going on?"

"Would you go to the Valentine's ball with me?" My eyes were trained on his and I prayed to every deity I could think of that he hadn't already said 'yes' to someone. It would be beyond humiliating, given that there were twenty students who were watching the entire conversation with abated breath.

Lysander nodded. "Of course. Why not?"

"Great, that's settled, then." Turning to give a triumphant look towards Scorpius's general direction. And, then, I couldn't stop myself from stating, under my breath, "And he's a year older than me. So take _that_."

I spun on my heel and stalked away before he could respond.

**xxx**

The next week, I took special care to get ready for the ball. The boys were required to wear dress robes, but the girls had been given permission to wear any formal dress they wanted. Since I'm not a dress type of girl, let alone a formal dress kind of girl, I'd had Jemma pick something out for me to wear. Delighted at the prospect of dressing me up as her personal doll, she'd spent hours pouring over catalogs until she finally found something and sent an owl off to my mother with the order information.

One of the other things I'd inherited from my mother was her early development in the chest area and her very generous curves. While my cousin Rose, at age sixteen, was still flat as pancakes, I had been wearing real bras since I was twelve. Normally, I hid my chest area under baggy jumpers and the many layers of my uniform (I was, after all, surrounded by about fifty male relatives of all ages and maturity levels a lot of the time), but Jemma had decided it was time to 'let the puppies out' in her words.

So that's how I found myself wearing a sleeveless, shimmering green dress that floated down to my ankles. It was also very low cut and showed an amount of cleavage that I had never even seen myself, let alone shown to other people. I kept yanking at the tight bodice, trying to get it higher.

"Stop it," Jemma hissed grabbing my hand for the umpteenth time. "It's silk. You'll tear it!"

I followed her out of the Ravenclaw common room. "It's uncomfortable."

She didn't respond. Instead, she walked up to Jack, a fourth year she was taking to the ball, and said hello. I looked around for Lysander and when I saw him walking towards me, I smiled.

Lysander looked me over and said, with a smile, "You look wonderful, Lily. So different from how you usually look." His eyes lingered on my chest and I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks, Ly. I'm going to choose to take that as a compliment." I'd known Lysander my entire life since his mother was my godmother and I'm partly named after her. We didn't know each other very well, though, since Luna's family travelled a lot and he attended Hogwarts before I did, so we didn't really have the same circle of friends. "By the way," I added, with a falsely sweet smile, "my eyes are up here."

He tore his eyes away from my very generous chest area and looked at me with confusion. "I know that."

Shaking my head, I walked ahead of him towards the Great Hall. "Forget it. Let's go."

After awhile, I forgot about my dress and actually started enjoying myself at the ball. It turned out that Lysander was a fairly accomplished dancer and he also enjoyed it, so I found myself being somewhat the belle of the ball.

I was just taking a break and waiting for Lysander to come back with a drink when my brothers arrived and saw me. They both headed my way and my brother James said to me, "Lily, you appear to have forgotten half your dress! Allow me." He started to shrug out of his outer dress robe and then Jemma appeared at my side.

"No, she hasn't," Jemma said, rather coolly. "That's the way the dress is."

James rolled his eyes. "I should have known you were behind this." With a scowl in my direction, "This is highly inappropriate. She's much too young to wear this kind of…. This kind of…." Words seemed to be failing him.

"Well, your mother is the one who sent it to her!" Jemma answered, her blue eyes flashing with anger. "Clearly, she didn't think Lily was too young."

Albus spoke for the first time. "Our mother?" Then he turned to James and said, "You reckon she showed it to Dad first?"

"Probably not," James answered, slowly. He was staring at Jemma, whose cheeks were red with anger. Then, abruptly, he turned away and said to Albus, "I need a drink."

Albus followed after him, with a reminder, "The drinks are non-alcoholic, mate."

"Then help me spike them! Honestly, are you a Potter or not?"

I watched them both walk away, bickering, and then turned to my best friend with a smile. "Thanks. I didn't want to deal with them."

"It's all right." She gave me a stiff smile. "You look beautiful, Lils. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Even though I'd been rather against the dress in the beginning, I couldn't help but feel as beautiful as she was telling me I was. And, so, the rest of the night passed by quite pleasantly and it was very late when Lysander and I made our way back to the Ravenclaw common room. We were holding hands and laughing with each other, reminiscing about times from our childhood.

"Do you remember," I said to him, with a giggle, as we stopped right in front of the entrance to my common room, "When Luna was convinced there was a Lampkin infestation in our Christmas tree? And she made our dads go out and get a new one on Christmas Eve? It's the only time I've ever seen my mum go off on yours."

"I remember." Lysander shook his head in bafflement. "I honestly don't understand where my mother gets things from half the time."

"Well," I replied, suddenly feeling disloyal, "Luna has discovered quite an assortment of creatures and plants over the years that no one knew about. So, she's getting it from somewhere. I reckon she's just too brilliant for us to understand."

He gave me a look and his lips tilted up in a slow smile. "That's a kind thing to say."

I shrugged. "She IS my godmother."

"Yes, she is that," Lysander responded, with a strange look on his face. "Lily, since she is and all…. Do you… would you mind terribly if I kissed you good night?" My flummoxed expression must have thrown him off, because he immediately said, "If it's too odd, I understand, of course…."

"No, no," I said quickly. "It's not odd at all." With a nervous look towards the floor, I blushed and said, "It's all right. I mean, we're not really related, you know."

"No, we're not," he said, and then he put his hand on the side of my face and tilted my head up towards his.

He leaned down to give me a gentle kiss on my lips and I moved closer to him, putting my hands on his shoulders, my fingers curling into the material of his dress robes. The pressure of his lips on mine were just starting to get a little harder when I heard a loud crashing sound behind us.

Lysander and I broke apart and I spun around to see what had caused the noise. There, standing a few feet away, was Scorpius. The sound had been his bottle of pumpkin juice falling to the ground, breaking the glass and splattering juice everywhere.

Since Lysander was always one to be calm in a crisis, he just said, "Malfoy. Are you all right?"

"I… yes…." Scorpius gave me a once-over, his gaze lingering on my dress, much like every other person's eyes had over the course of the evening. "I just came to talk to Lily, actually."

"Of course." Lysander pulled away from me and smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow, Lily. Thanks for a fun night."

"No problem," I answered, automatically. When Lysander had rounded the corner and disappeared, I looked at Scorpius and said, in a cool tone, "What did you need to talk about?"

Scorpius took a minute to pull out his wand and clean up the mess he'd just made. Then, he stepped towards me. "I wanted to apologize."

"For what?" I asked him, with a raised brow.

"For the situation with Hamish." Scorpius looked down at the floor, avoiding my gaze. "I shouldn't have done that. Gotten in the middle."

I was so amazed to actually hear an apology from a male who was around my brother's age that I responded, in a bright voice, "Oh, it's quite all right. It all worked out in the end. I think you were right, anyway. I was being a coward, going to you instead of really trying to find a real date. And it was a great evening." Thinking about it for a second, I added, jokingly, "Until you barged in on my first kiss, that is."

"That was your first kiss?" Scorpius burst out laughing. "Turnabouts fair play, then. You walked in on _my_ first kiss."

Diverted, I looked up at him. "With Rose? That was your first kiss?" I thought back to that day. I'd known it was Rose's, but not his. "That's… surprising."

He looked confused. "Why?"

"I always thought you…" I blushed and smoothed some imaginary wrinkles on my dress. "I always figured you'd gone out with legions of girls and had tons of experience."

"Legions…?" Scorpius stared at my blankly and then started laughing again. "No. I'm not James, who had a different girl every week. Although," he added, in a thoughtful tone, "I guess I've gone out with more than Albus. To be honest, most guys don't start thinking about that stuff until their fourth year, and that's when Rose and I went out for six months. So, I wouldn't exactly use the word _legions_."

Nodding slightly, I turned my attention towards the door to the common room. People were starting to come back from the ball and door kept swinging open and shut. I'd be able to sneak through without having to answer a bloody riddle if I just walked in with someone else. So, I said to him, hastily, "I accept your apology. Good night."

As he echoed my sentiment, I headed into room, saying, "Wait up, Jem!"

So, he was already out of my mind by the time I'd gone upstairs, because I was too bursting with the news that I'd just had my first kiss. Scorpius was the last person on my mind.

_The second time… _

I fought with Scorpius Malfoy, I was in my fifth year and I'd just walked into the Ravenclaw common room to find my boyfriend hexed and lying on the ground, with Scorpius and my brother, Albus, standing over his body with their wands out and a satisfied look in their eyes.

I got down the floor next to Aidan, and saw that his legs had been locked together, and he had a bleeding lip and a black eye. "Aidan, are you all right?" I cried out, pulling out my wand. Quickly, I undid the hex and glared at my brother as I tried to help Aidan up.

Aidan moved away from me, turning down my help. "I'm all right, I'm all right." He shot Scorpius and Albie a dirty look. "What the hell is wrong with you two?"

"What's wrong with us?" Albus exclaimed. "You have hell of a lot of balls, McCormick! Did you think I wouldn't find out? Just because I'm not in Gryffindor and don't use your bathrooms?"

Confused, I looked back and forth between them. "What's going on? What are you talking about?"

"Tell her," Scorpius commanded, in a quiet and lethal voice. "Tell her."

Aidan's brows furrowed and he turned towards me. "I guess… they're talking about the boys' bathroom." His face flushed slightly and he dabbed at the blood on his lip. "Your name is on the wall; someone wrote something…."

"What," I asked in a whisper, my face a little white, "Did they write?"

"It's nothing, Lily," Aidan answered, his eyes looking at me imploringly. "I tried to wash it off, but the person must have enchanted it. It's just because they're jealous of you…." He looked at Albus with defiance. "I told you, I didn't write it."

"But you let it stay there," Scorpius answered, tersely. "And that's just as bad."

Feeling a little sick to my stomach, I stepped back and leaned against the wall. The Valentine's Day ball had been a turning point for me. Once the male population of Hogwarts saw that Lysander took me out and lived to see the next morning without a Howler coming from my father in retaliation, they all seemed to finally realize I was a girl.

Suddenly, I was being asked out by all the same boys who had ignored me for the first three years of Hogwarts. Or maybe they always would have sought me out, given that boys apparently didn't think about these things until fourth year, and they were just getting around to it.

In any case, it resulted in my popularity rising beyond belief and then I was in the same situation my brother, James, had always been in. I couldn't quite keep with all the requests and soon found myself just choosing to go out with guys as friends, as opposed to dating anyone seriously. This period in my life was also in conjunction with me suddenly deciding that I cared about how I looked, and I began to wear clothes that were more flattering and, every now and then, took time to style my hair and wear a little make-up.

In the beginning, James and Albus were very opposed to the idea of me dating and seemed to think I was going through guys a little too fast. But then there came an owl from my mother, who threatened them with a howler to beat all howlers if they didn't lay off of me.

Aidan had been the first serious boyfriend I'd had; there was something about the seventh year Gryffindor that had immediately attracted me to him. He was one of those all round popular boys who was both smart and very good at Quidditch. Given that he was a couple of years older than me, I'd been immensely flattered and amazed when he'd asked me out. And we'd been seeing each other steadily for about three months now and I'd even considered having sex with him.

Now, I looked at him, and could barely even believe I'd let him touch me, let alone the idea of going all the way. I said, in a cool tone, "You should have told me. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to feel bad," Aidan said. He shot a look of disgust towards my brother and Scorpius. "They shouldn't have told you either. It's not a big deal; they're just words."

"Just words! Why you -."

Albus shot forward with his wand up, but I cast a Shield charm so strong that he was thrown back against the wall.

"I can take care of myself, thank you," I told him, in an angry voice. Tears were threatening to spill down my cheeks and so I knew I needed to get out of there. To Aidan, I said, "You should have told me. I had a right to know. And now excuse me while I go in there and clean it up."

**xxx**

It took awhile, but I managed to hunt down a friend who was in Gryffindor and once I'd explained the situation to her, she was angry enough to help me break into the boys' bathroom.

Once there, we both stopped and stared in horror at what a boy had written there. Not to go into too much detail, but it had something to do with the Boy Who Lived and his daughter who did much more than live.

Teresa looked at me, her eyes spitting fire. "Who the hell wrote this? We have to tell Professor Longbottom. He's the head of Gryffindor house."

"I know that," I snapped at her. Shaking my head, I stated, emphatically, "There is no way we're telling Neville."

"Why not, Lily?" Her eyes were wide open in disbelief. "This is terrible." She lifted her wand and tried to start cleaning it off, but the basic cleaning spells we'd been taught didn't work. "He'll get to the bottom of this."

"He's my brother's _godfather_," I pointed out, through gritted teeth. "He'll feel compelled to tell my parents. And then they'll Floo down here before I can even blink. Right now, only a few guys in Gryffindor know about this. By the time it's all said and done, the entire school will know." My cheeks burned with embarrassment.

"I guess." Teresa's tone was doubtful. "If you say so. But how in the bloody hell are we going to get it off?"

"I can clean it off," Scorpius said, from right behind us.

I whirled around and let out a huff. "No thank you, you've done enough damage."

Teresa looked between the two of us and then said, "Er… well, someone's got to do it, Lily. You and I can't." She walked towards the entrance and said, "I'll keep an eye for any wandering Gryffindors while you two sort it out."

There was silence between us for a moment and then I asked, rather caustically, "And how do you expect clean it? Aidan tried and it didn't work."

Scorpius ignored me and lifted his wand; he stared at the wall with intense concentration for a few minutes and, before long, I started to see the horrible words begin to fade.

When he was done, he looked towards me with a grim smile. "I pride myself on being just a touch more intelligent than your git of a boyfriend, Lily."

Pursing my lips, I looked up at him with a mixture of annoyance and disbelief. "Did you just do that entire spell _silently_? That's above N.E.W.T. levels." In fact, James had never really mastered it before leaving Hogwarts.

His lips twitched, as though he were about to smile. "Just about N.E.W.T. levels, actually. But I've been practicing with your father."

Then I remembered it was Scorpius's ambition to become an Auror and he'd spoken with my father about it in his sixth year. My father had looked over his O.W.L. results and had agreed to train him privately whenever my dad had some extra time during the holidays.

"Oh, right, I see. Where's Albie?" I asked, making a show of looking around. "A little odd to see Twiddledee without Twiddledum." It was a mean thing to say, but I was pissed off and embarrassed.

Scorpius looked utterly perplexed by my reference (probably because he'd never taken Muggle Studies like I had) and he replied, "Your brother had to be taken to the hospital ward. He hit his head pretty hard when he got hit with your Shield charm."

"Oh." I supposed I should have felt bad about that, but I too annoyed to feel it. "He deserves it. Unless you want to join him, I would suggest you stop butting into my life, as well." And then I made to sweep past him towards the exit.

Before I could, he moved forward and blocked my way. His eyes were blazing with anger as he looked down at me. "Why are you angry with ME? What did I do?"

"What did you DO?" I exclaimed. "Let me tell you something, Scorpius Malfoy, I do not need you or my brothers to fight for me. I am perfectly capable of doing it myself."

"I see that," Scorpius replied in an icy tone, "given this has been up here for two weeks and you've been snogging the living piss out of McCormick the entire time with absolutely no clue. You're doing a bang up job taking care of yourself, Lily."

"What do you care who I snog?" I said, hotly, crossing my arms. "You're not my brother. And - in case you hadn't noticed - between my brothers, cousins, uncles, and even Teddy, I have PLENTY of over-protective male relatives. I'm not hurting for more. If you really feel the need to adopt a little sister, then I suggest you find yourself a little orphan girl!"

Tears were starting to spring to my eyes, as it always happened when I was really angry, so I began to push past him to the door. The next thing I knew, he'd grasped my arm and pulled me back around to face him.

"Little sister?" He stared down at me with hard, fierce look. "I wish. Ah, Lily, I wish."

And then he pulled me closer to him and leaned down to kiss me. The kiss was hard at first, but then he gentled and I found myself swaying closer to him, my arms automatically winding around his neck. Tingles of awareness went through my entire body, all the energy and heat pooling together in my stomach. It was automatic: I was kissing him back with fervor, almost mindlessly. He was the first to break way, but his hands were still at my waist and he seemed just as out of breath as I was.

Stunned and silent, I just stood there for a second and then stumbled back a few steps. "What was that for?"

Scorpius closed his eyes and let out a soft curse. "I'm so sorry. I… this isn't how I…."

"No, no, forget it." With a quick shake of my head, I turned and headed towards the exit. "I have to go. This… um… this never happened."

And then, for the first time, I fully understood why I hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor.

Because I fled.

_The third time…._

I fought with Scorpius Malfoy was at my house, during Easter break in my sixth year. It had been awhile since I'd seen him, because I'd avoided him for rest of his seventh year (after the disastrous incident in the bathroom). Every time I saw him, my heart would do a somersault and my body would feel like it was about to burst into flames. And that scared me, so I decided it was best to just try to avoid seeing him.

As it was, we only had a few months left of the term and when I returned for my sixth year, he was no longer there. I got frequent updates on him, though, through my family. After leaving Hogwarts, he'd joined the Ministry in the Auror department, and Albus and my father would talk a lot about how brutal the training was and how busy Scorpius was, although he was apparently still around to join my family for dinner frequently.

So, this all led up to Easter break, which was the first time his visits to my house had coincided with one of my holidays.

It had not occurred to me to alter my 'avoid Scorpius at all costs' plan, even if we were at home together. My house is fairly large, so it was easy enough to be on a different floor than him most times, and at dinnertime, I would just make sure I was seated far, far away where no one would expect us to talk to each other or even look at each other. Since I'd brought Jemma home with me for the holidays, it was easy enough to focus on just on her and no one was any the wiser.

Then, one day, I happened to stumble upon a scene that I wanted to erase from my memory. There, in my room, was my brother James and he was halfway on top of Jemma, snogging the living daylights out of her.

"Oh, for the love of…!" I cried out and watched as James scrambled to get off of Jemma and she tried to button up her blouse. "Why is it that I'm always walking in on people making out in this house?"

"Get out, Lily," James said, in a low tone.

"It's MY room," I yelled out, suddenly feeling furious. I shot Jemma a dirty look. "And my bed!"

Jemma looked at James nervously and then me. "Lily, I wanted to tell you. But we…." She glanced at James, who let out a frustrated sigh. "We were just waiting for the right time."

"Well, this bloody well isn't it," I told her in a bitter voice. "I'm supposed to be your best friend!"

"I know! You are!" Jemma was moving closer to me, her eyes looking at me pleadingly. "Can we talk about this?"

"No, I have to go."

I turned and ran out of the room, then continuing running until I'd left the house far behind and found myself on a familiar trail that led out to our gardens. After a few minutes of sprinting, I stopped when I got to small part of gardens that housed a collection of lilies and roses.

When Rose and I were little, we used to play there all time, because that was our section. Our mothers had designed it as a homage to our names. As Rose got older, she stopped going there so much, but – for me – it was still one of the favorite parts of my house. I always come out here to read or to write, if the weather is nice enough.

I stopped and sat down heavily on a stone bench that was near a small fountain.

"Oh, _Scrougify_, _Scrougify_," I chanted under my breath. "Why can't that work on the last five minutes? Didn't want to see that. Let's just erase that bit. I wonder how the Oblivate spell works? "

"Why are you talking to yourself?" A quiet and amused voice asked me from my right.

I started and looked up at him. "What are you doing here?"

Scorpius sat down on the edge of the fountain, facing me. "I was already here. You blew right past me like there was a boggart on your trail."

"Oh." Remembering that I was supposed to be avoiding him, I got up to leave. "All right then."

"Lily." Scorpius's voice stopped me. "Why were you talking to yourself?"

"Because…." Hesitating a bit, I allowed myself to glance towards him. Then promptly looked away, because it was hard to look directly at him. After giving it some thought, I decided to tell him what was on my mind. He'd always been fairly easy to talk to; he was usually quiet and gave decent, welcome advice. Just because he'd once tried to stick his tongue down my throat did not mean I couldn't talk to him ever again, did it?

So, I told him about the scene I'd witnessed. I finished with, "For Merlin's sake, even their names are kind of the same. It's revolting."

Scorpius didn't look the least bit surprised. "Yeah. Jemma and James. I was wondering when you'd find out."

"When I'd find out?" Flabbergasted, I stared up at him. "When did _you_ find out? And how long has this been going on? Why didn't they tell me?"

"Hard to imagine why, given that you're handling it so well," Scorpius answered, in a rather dry tone. At my dirty glare, he said, "From what Al told me, it started at Christmas. I don't know James as well as I know Al, but I think he's had a thing for Jem for a while."

I wrinkled my nose. "That's just… that's just wrong. She's only sixteen! He's almost twenty!"

Scorpius frowned. "Isn't she turning seventeen in a few weeks? And your brother's not turning twenty for another nine months; he just had his birthday."

I cast him a sharp glance. "That's just beside the point, isn't it?"

He gave me an odd look. "What, exactly, makes you against this? Their age difference or that your brother's interested in your best friend?"

"Is she even my best friend?" I asked him, feeling bewildered. "What if she just wanted to get in my brother's pants?" Then I made a face at the mental image those words conjured.

He laughed lightly. "Since you've been friends with her since you were both eleven, I should hope not." I didn't laugh back and he added, in more a serious tone, "There is no way Jemma could fake six years of friendship, Lily. You should give her more credit."

I kept silent and focused on the fountain, which wasn't running since it wasn't the summer, yet.

"Sometimes, you can't control who you have feelings for, Lil. Whether it be your sibling's best friend or…." Scorpius paused and finished, "Vice versa."

Vice versa? I looked towards him and made the connection. Best friend's sibling. "I have a boyfriend, Malfoy,"I told him in a warning tone.

"I know." Scorpius nodded and a small smile played on his lips. "Merlotte? Mason? Maggot or something?"

"It's Michael," I corrected, but I couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Michael Wright."

He crossed his arms across his chest and the smile dropped from his lips. "He's coming over for dinner tonight. Your mother told me."

"Yeah." I looked down at my trainers and scuffed at the ground a bit. He was the first boyfriend I'd brought home to meet my parents. "She's pretty excited."

"Right, I guess she is." There was an awkward silence and then he said, "You can't avoid me forever, Lily. At some point, we have to talk about it."

"That's what you think," I responded, pertly. With a grin, I started towards the house. "I'm excellent at avoiding."

Before I could leave, he grabbed my arm to stop me. "Well, I'm not." He scowled down at me and shook his head. "What is wrong with you? I know I wasn't the first person to kiss you, and it's not like you haven't gone out with anyone. Why are you being so immature about this?"

"Immature?" I cried out, fuming. If it was one thing I hated being called, it was that. Probably came with being the youngest and constantly told I was too young for everything. "I'm not the one being immature. You're the one who wants to get it on with your best friend's sister. I'm being the mature one who realizes it's stupid." I raised a brow, and stated, briskly, "You're like a brother to me."

"Really?" Instead of looking offended, he just smiled and released my arm. "You weren't kissing me like I was a brother to you."

"You just caught me by surprise."

"Right." Scorpius nodded and stepped back, a hard look in his eyes. "So, you react like that to everyone then? Michael?"

"That's none of your business," I said, sharply.

"If I'm a like a brother to you, then why can't it be my business?"

I chewed on my bottom lip and stared up at him. Deciding that logic was the best way to go, I said, in a highly reasonable voice, "You've decided you like me because of all the time you've spent with my family. You really don't like _me_. I read a book about it."

His lips twitched, as though he were suppressing a smile. "You read a book."

"Yes." Feeling like he was finally listening to me, I continued, "I think you want me because I'm like forbidden fruit. The person who was always around and that you basically knew you couldn't have. Like Jemma. I'm sure she feels that same way about James."

"You know what I think?" Scorpius asked, slowly.

"What?" I eyed him warily.

"I think you read too much." He closed the distance between with a few steps. "I like you because you're pretty, funny, smart, and – most of the time – a nice person. You're fun to be around and you say the oddest things at the most insane moments, so I can't help but wonder what's going to happen next when I'm with you." He gazed down at me for a moment, his eyes straying down to my lips. Then, he added, in a terse voice, "And the fact that I've known you since you were ten is why I know those things. It's not why I _made up_ those things."

Rendered completely mute (which was, admittedly, an odd occurrence for me) I just stared at him with my mouth open. He didn't wait for my response. Instead, he just moved past me towards the house, leaving me alone in the garden staring after him.

**xxx**

A few hours later, we were all sitting around the dinner table and Michael was sitting next to me, clearly quite nervous.

"It's such a coincidence," my mother said, suddenly, as she cut into her roast beef. "I dated someone named Michael when I was at Hogwarts. Remember that, Harry?"

My dad looked up from his own plate and answered, "Oh, yes, you did. I remember. He was a bit of an idiot."

"Harry," my mother said in a reproving tone. "He was quite intelligent. He was in Ravenclaw, remember? And he fought against the Carrows during my sixth year."

"So, then, he was a brave idiot," my father responded, but he was smiling. Then he turned to Michael and said, hurriedly, "Not that this means we think you're an idiot. Lily's told us all about you, and I suspect you're quite intelligent. She's an excellent judge of character."

My dad was trying to be nice, mainly to make up for the fact that people are intimated by him, but his words just seemed to make Michael tense up even more.

"Er… yes, sir… I am intelligent," Michael responded and then seemed to think it was arrogant, because he quickly amended, "I mean, I'm all right. I'm not exactly…"

Putting my hand on his, I shot him a smile, in hopes that it would calm him down.

"So, how _did_ you do on your OWLs, Wright?" Scorpius asked, abruptly, his eyes on my hand. "Do well?"

"I…." Michael looked over toward my dad again, who gave him a reassuring smile in return. "Well, to be honest, Potions gave me a fair amount of trouble. Just barely scraped together an A. I scored an E in Charms, though. And," he said, with a smile, "I made an O in Muggle Studies."

"Muggle Studies?" Scorpius said the words with a look of disdain. "That must have been so… _difficult_ for you."

Feeling anger bubble up, I shot back, "It's not an easy class. I took Muggle Studies and I'm taking it at NEWT levels, too."

Michael cleared this throat. "I plan to have a career in the Muggle world, actually. I'm interested in Muggle and Wizard relationships. I'm not sure exactly what I want to do, but the subject has always interested me."

"So, basically, you have no ambition, then?" Scorpius said, his face settling into a haughty and arrogant mask. "Any Squibs in your family tree, by chance?"

"Scorpius!" My mother looked aghast, gazing at him as though she couldn't quite recognize him. "You know my father was the head of the Misuse for Muggle Artifacts Office. He's hardly a Squib!"

Scorpius barely even flicked a glance in my mother's direction. "Good point. So, then, are you planning to use Lily's connections to get a position?"

This time, it was my father who spoke. "Scorpius, that's enough." His voice was quiet, but firm. "Michael is a guest here."

At his words, Scorpius blinked and the arrogant look dropped. Looking slightly regretful, he said, "Of course. I'm sorry."

My mother wasn't so easily mollified. "Are you feeling all right, Scorpius?"

"No, I'm actually not." He got to his feet and said to my mother, "My apologies, Mrs. Potter. But I think I'll head up to my room."

After he'd left, everyone was quiet for a few minutes. James and Jemma were sitting together, and hadn't seemed to realize anything was amiss, because they kept looking at each other. Albus had a worried look on his face and exchanged a long look with my father. Michael just looked very uncomfortable and was focused on eating his peas.

My mother said, to no one in particular, "I have never seen him look more like a Malfoy. What has gotten into him?"

Pushing his chair, Albus stood up. "I'll go see what's going on."

"No, I'll go." My father stood up and said, to Michael, "I apologize. If you'll excuse me."

Albus settled back down in his chair and the rest of the meal passed fairly amicably, with my mother attempting to keep up a steady stream of conversation. But my heart wasn't in it, because my thoughts kept straying to upstairs, where my father was having a talk with Scorpius.

**xxx**

Much later that night, I'd said good night to Michael and he'd Floo'd away. I was sitting in my room and attempting to go over some Transfiguration notes, since I was due back at school soon and end of year exams were just around the corner. It was difficult to focus and so when I heard a knock on my door, I welcomed the interruption.

"Come in," I said, turning away from the desk just as my mother entered the room.

She came in and settled down on the bed. "Studying? You do realize you're on holiday, don't you?"

With a grin, I replied, "I didn't see you complaining when I got my OWL results."

"No, I guess I wasn't," she agreed, with a grin of her own. Then she became a little more serious. "I wanted to talk to you about Michael, dear. And… well… I wanted to give you this." She pulled a small flask from her pocket, in which there appeared to be a clear liquid.

Taking it from her, I squinted at it. "What is this?"

"A potion for birth control," my mother said, her tone utterly serious and devoid of any humor. "You need to take it twice a month."

I almost dropped it. "What?"

"It could be that I'm too late and I should have given this to you a couple of years ago," she gave a wry smile at that, "but you know how it is with parents. I guess you'll always be a baby to me, so I was in a bit of denial. I had hoped you'd…." my mother cleared her throat and looked around my room. "I had hoped you'd wait until you were much older, but I'm not dumb enough to think there aren't certain pressures on a girl and -."

"Mum!" I cut in, desperately embarrassed. "We don't need to do this. The Talk, I mean. I know… whatever it is one needs to know. They had a class at Hogwarts and everything."

My mum pursed her lips and attempted not to laugh. "Ah… there's a little more to it than what they teach you in that class, Lily."

"I know that." My cheeks burned and I picked up a small piece of parchment and started folding it into a tiny square. "Well, I mean… what do you mean?"

"I mean there are things like love, happiness, and the feeling of being with someone who cherishes you." Mum stood up and then started walking around my room. She picked up the small figurine in the shape of a unicorn that my brothers had given me as a Christmas present when I was nine and examined it. "Right now, I know that you have all these… physical feelings… going through you. But I think it's important you realize that there is more to sex than just the physical. There's an emotional connection and…."

I kind of tuned her out. Because I already knew that. That's why I hadn't been able to really 'seal the deal' (as Jemma would put it) with any of the guys I'd gone out with it. Sure, there was always a little under the shirt action, but it never really went beyond that.

"Lily," my mother gave me a sharp look. "This is important. Pay attention." She took her wand out. "I'm also going to teach you some basic contraceptive charms, just in case you've missed your dose of potion."

At that point, my brain began to rebel. "Uhh… no, thanks."

"Lily Luna Potter!" Mum rolled her eyes. "This is not a joke. The last thing you want to do is get pregnant at sixteen."

"I'm not going to do that," I exclaimed. "I'm not an idiot. I haven't even slept with him, yet."

"Yet," my mother repeated. She lowered her wand and then sat down on the edge of my bed. "So, you're thinking about it then?"

"Maybe, I don't know," I mumbled, avoiding her discerning gaze. Then, out of curiosity, I couldn't help but ask, "How old were you?"

"Eighteen," she responded with no hesitation. And then, she shot me the wicked grin that she's rather famous for. "Not that I wanted to wait that long. But your father's an honorable prat. And he was rather busy that year after he took down Voldemort. Apparently, he wanted the first time to be special, even though I kept telling him we could just go at it in a broom closet for all I cared."

"Oh dear Godric Gyffindor, MOTHER!" I closed my eyes in horror. "I don't need those kinds of details, thanks."

She was laughing. "You wouldn't be here if I wasn't attracted to your father." At my look of disgust, she shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you may look exactly like me, but you are certainly your father's daughter. He can take down Death Eaters with the flick of a wand, but anything to do with the opposite sex and he's completely frozen."

I shook my head, but couldn't help but laugh. "I suppose."

"The point is," my mother continued, "that I probably would have slept with him when I was sixteen if there had been the opportunity. In your case, you don't have to worry about Michael going off to face the world's most powerful Dark wizard, so I reckon chances are high you won't wait until you're eighteen."

"Well, Michael's not like _that_." I answered, quickly. "I mean, he's not like how you were with Dad."

"Meaning?"

"I mean, he's not 'the one', I don't think." I looked at the tiny squared parchment in my hand. I couldn't fold it down anymore. "How did you even know? You fell in love with Dad when you were _ten_, for heaven's sake!"

"Everyone always says that." My mother let out a resigned sigh. "But that's not true, at all. When I was ten, I was _intrigued_ by your father. Then, later on, we became friends. He dated Cho; I dated a few other guys. When we finally decided to get together, I was immensely attracted to him. As time went on, I realized my feelings for him were love and he realized the same thing about me." My mother picked at a loose thread on my bedspread and added, "It was a different time. We'd seen a lot of death. War. Torture. So, when a person felt love, they grabbed at it."

"How did you know it was love?"

"Mainly because your father made me feel differently than I felt with anyone." Mum looked a little amused. "Not just the physical; I was comfortable with him. I could be myself and we were good friends. My family loved him. He loved my family. No other man could really compare to him."

"Well, he _is_ Harry Potter," I pointed out. "Everyone feels that way. That no man can compare to him." Suddenly feeling dejected, I threw the parchment in the dustbin. "I don't think I'm going to find a man like that."

"That's not why I love him, though," my mother said quietly. "When I see him, I don't see the Boy Who Lived. I see my Harry, the bloke who doesn't have a romantic bone in his body, but still attempts to be romantic for my sake. The man who loves my parents even more than I do; the father who would die for his children and the Auror who wakes up every day and fights to make the world a better place."

I didn't really know what to say to that, so I kept silent.

"Michael may not be that man," Mum pointed out. "Maybe you haven't even met that man. But I know that we don't live in that same world, anymore, Lils. So, you might not wait for him. Lord knows your brothers didn't wait." My mother rolled her eyes. "And if you choose not to wait, then I want you to take the necessary precautions, all right?"

I nodded. "All right."

"Good." She came to me and kissed my forehead gently. "And put your books away. Enjoy your holiday while you still can."

After she'd left, I tried to go to sleep, but sleep proved elusive. I kept thinking about my mother's words and what she'd said about how my father made her feel. I had a hazy, fuzzy picture in my mind about the man who would make me feel that way. When I finally closed my eyes, the hazy pictures went into sharp focus and I saw the picture of Scorpius, in the garden, telling me how he felt.

I didn't sleep a wink for the rest of the night.


	4. Touched

_The First Time… _

I touched Scorpius Malfoy of my own volition was in a large, empty classroom at Hogwarts in my seventh year.

It had been awhile since the two of us had been alone together, and this wasn't something I had planned or even considered. As a favor to the Defense Against Dark Arts professor, my father had stopped by Hogwarts to give a guest lecture on dueling and other high level Dark arts magic to the N.E.W.T.-level students. For whatever reason, he'd brought Scorpius with him (I guess to use as a partner in the dueling exercises) and, of course, I was part of the class attending since I was going to be sitting for the N.E.W.T. Defense exams.

When it was all said and done, and the classroom had emptied of all the students, I hung around waited until the last person left. And then went up to my father with a grin. Scorpius was in the corner, putting away the materials they'd used in their demonstration. I ignored him and he ignored me.

"Lily-flower," my father said, with a smile. He gave me a quick hug and did that thing where he ruffles my hair on purpose to make me mad. I rolled my eyes in response.

As he was putting some parchments of paper in his briefcase, he asked, "Did you enjoy the lecture?"

"Yes." I nodded, with a huge grin. "I particularly enjoyed how you demonstrated the power of simple spells like _Expelliarmis_ and _Stupefy_. The idea that these common, and often overlooked, spells can actually be more effective than the complicated and highly dangerous ones? Brilliant, Daddy. Just absolutely brilliant."

My dad looked amused and leaned back against the table, with his arms crossed. "Eh, you do realize I'm not your professor? You don't need to kiss my arse for good marks."

"Right. But, you are the one who gives me my _allowance_," I pointed out, with a cheeky grin. I held up my hand, palm facing him. "And I'm out of gold."

Letting out a sigh, he reached into his robe pocket and pulled out a tiny bag. "Don't," he began, in a warning tone, as he emptied a few Galleons onto my palm, "tell your mother. She thinks you need to start becoming more responsible now that you're about to leave Hogwarts."

"Oh, come on," I answered, rolling my eyes. "We both know she sends money to James in every single bloody owl."

"That's because he's studying to be a healer, and you know students in the Healing Academy make almost no money," my dad reminded me, with a hint of a smile. "Like I said, don't tell your mother."

"I won't." I pocketed the gold and then looked up at him. "Are you joining us in the Great Hall for dinner? You'll make the Gryffindors' day. It's not every day such a _distinguished _alum pops by."

His brows rose at that, but all he said was, "I was planning on it. Although, I had planned to sit at the Ravenclaw table."

"Really?" I pretended to look confused. "Why would that be?"

"There's this Ravenclaw girl that looks kind of like your mother," my dad said, with a laugh, as he picked up his bag. "I figured she must be related."

"Probably is," I said, nodding in agreement. "We do have a lot of Weasleys running about."

"Too true." My dad looked towards Scorpius. "Scorp, would you mind putting everything back to rights in here? I promised Hagrid I'd stop by for tea, and I also need to see Neville about something." He turned back to me and kissed me on the forehead, giving me a quick one-armed hug. "I'll see you at dinner, Lily-flower. Can you help Scorpius out before you go?"

I looked towards Scorpius, who said, hastily, "No, I have it, Auror Potter. I'm fine."

"Don't be silly," my father responded, with a flick of his hand. As he headed out the door, he added, over his shoulder, "Besides, Lily has to earn the gold I just gave her, doesn't she?"

After he left, an awkward silence fell across the room and I was looking pretty much everywhere but him.

After a while, Scorpius cleared his throat. "You really don't have to stay, you know. I've got it."

"No, no, it's fine." I picked up various items and headed towards the storage cupboard in the back. "My father has a tendency to know things, so if he wants me to help, I should do it."

We worked in silence for a good ten minutes and, by the end of it, the room had gone back to normal. I'd just put the last chair back in its normal place when I saw Scorpius standing very still and looking up at the corner of the ceiling. I followed his gaze and saw a scorch mark on the paint.

His lips curved up into a half-smile. "Al and I did that. First year."

Blinking up at it, I asked him, "How?"

"We charmed a game of Exploding Snap," he answered, in an absentminded tone. "Long story. We got three weeks of detention. It was my first ever detention, I remember. Definitely not my last, though."

I started laughing. "Yes, well, my brothers have that influence on people."

"It's so odd," he said, rather abruptly, as he turned back to face me. "My last year at Hogwarts, I was so ready to leave. I couldn't wait. And, now, I'm back here and I feel like I'd rather be in first year doing detention all over again."

"Really?" With a straight face, I offered, "You want to trade places? The NEWTs are just around the corner, and honestly everything about this place is bothering me. The bathroom that floods because of Moaning Myrtle. The stupid riddles to get into my common room; the studying, the libraries, even the food in the Great Hall just doesn't taste as good."

"You wouldn't want to trade places with me, Lily." Scorpius sounded sad. "You know why I had to come with your father today? Because he felt sorry for me," he answered in a tight voice, before I could respond.

"Sorry for you?" I wasn't faking my confusion. "Why?"

"Because no one in the Auror department wants to work with me," Scorpius avoided my eyes and walked towards the open window. He stood there, looking out at the Quidditch pitch, where the Hufflepuff team was having their weekly practice. "Everyone remembers, you see, what my grandfather did in the last war. How all the Dark objects were found in the Malfoy manor. They think it's not safe for me to be working there."

"But your grandfather died in Azkaban." Walking closer to him, I bridged the distance to stand next to him. "And my father spoke on your father and grandmother's behalf at their trials. And you've done nothing wrong! You're _brilliant_. Even my father thinks so."

"None of that matters, Lil." He glanced towards me and his lips twisted into a bitter smile. "When they see me, all they see is a person whose family fought on the wrong side of the war. I had thought, after Hogwarts, things would be different. But in the real world? They're not."

"Well," I said slowly, tapping one finger against my lips thoughtfully, "you know what you have to do, then, don't you?"

His eyes strayed down to my lips and he appeared frozen. "What is that?"

"You have to make a friend," I told him, pertly. "Find that ONE person who doesn't see your family when they look at you. The rest will follow. Many years ago, someone gave me some brilliant advice to that effect and it paid off."

Scorpius started laughing. And then said, in a teasing voice, "But what if no one likes me?"

In silence, I contemplated him for a minute. And I echoed his words from long ago, "Ah, Scorp. There is no way no one would like you."

Then, I stood on tip-toe and wrapped my arms around him, giving him a reassuring hug. When I pulled back, I couldn't help but kiss him on the cheek lightly. Then, feeling embarrassed, I rubbed at the spot where I'd left some of my lip gloss. "Well, I better head down. I'm starving and my father will be wondering where I am."

When I'd settled down at my place at the Ravenclaw table, I saw that the Great Hall was more crowded than usual. It looked like the entire school had turned out to have dinner with Harry Potter. The Headmaster got up and said a few words, like he always did, and then turned to my father. "Auror Potter, we're honored to have you here with us today. Would you like to say a few words?"

My dad glanced around the Great Hall and I knew he was annoyed at the pomp. Knowing him, I was sure he'd wanted to just slip in, sit next to me, eat some food, and leave. But it would rude for him to show up at his old school and not say something, so he walked towards the podium and looked out over at all of us.

My friend, Kiran, leaned in closer to me and said, "Look, I know he's your dad and all that, but he is still very hot."

I did a double-take and made a sound like I was about to vomit. "That's _revolting_. It's bad enough when people say that about my brothers, but to say it about my dad? Go get your head checked."

She shrugged. "I'm not the only girl saying it."

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to my dad, who had just finished thanking the Headmaster for his hospitality. "And, now," my dad finished, "I suppose I should say a few words." He appeared to give it some thought and then he said, "Flibbergrout. Lemon drops. And gillyweed. Enjoy your dinner, everyone."

The Great Hall fell completely silent as everyone tried to process what he'd just said. Except for me, I just burst out laughing. As he got down from the stage and started walking towards my table, I shook my head at him and chided, "They're all going to think you were confounded or something, Daddy."

"What can I say?" He sat down at the seat next to mine and shrugged at everyone around the table. "I'm a man of few words."

As we tucked into the scrumptious food, I looked around. All the students at our table looked nervous and some were trying to fix their hair. I shot Kiran the evil eye, making it clear that she was to get nowhere near my father.

Before we could even get to the second course, an owl flew into the Hall, carrying some post. It headed straight towards my father and dropped the large, heavy envelope right over his plate. When he picked it up, I saw the Ministry seal. Quickly, he slit it open and scanned its contents. Then, with a heavy sigh, he turned to me, "Ah, Lily-."

"You have to go," I finished for him. I'd grown up with him, after all. This was a usual occurrence. "All right, then."

"Can you do a favor and send your mother a message through Floo?" My father got up and looked towards the Slytherin table, where Scorpius was having his dinner. He caught Scorp's eye, who immediately nodded and stood up to join him. "Tell her I won't be home tonight. Probably not tomorrow, either."

"Of course," I said, standing up myself. I was starting to get a little alarmed. "Is everything OK?"

"Yes, it'll be fine." He gave me a quick one-armed hug and then hurried towards the Headmaster, presumably to ask to borrow his fireplace to Floo out of Hogwarts.

After having a conversation through Floo with my mother, I decided it would make sense for me to just go home for the weekend. Exams were right around the corner, and I had been telling Scorpius the truth. The school _was_ driving me batty. I could use a break. After getting permission from the Headmaster, I Floo'd home and, hours later, I was still unable to sleep.

So, I was nursing a cold bottle of butterbeer in the kitchen when my brother stumbled in, looking utterly exhausted and a little dirty.

"James?" I shot to my feet and helped him sit down at the table. "What are you doing here?"

James looked around blearily. "What? Oh, I… this was closer than my flat." He put his head down on the table and then looked up, eying my butterbeer covetously. I rolled my eyes and handed it over to him, then went to go get myself a fresh one.

After taking a few pulls, he seemed to wake up slightly. "Lils, what are YOU doing here? Why aren't you at school?"

"Decided to study at home." Tearing at the paper on the bottle in front of me, I asked him, "Why are you so dirty?"

He gave me an odd look. "Haven't you heard? There was a huge explosion in a Muggle shopping district in London. Turns out it was a Dark object and a few bad Wizards that caused it. St. Mungo's was jammed pack with Muggles and wizards alike. I just finished up back to back shifts." Shaking his head wearily, he took another long swallow of butterbeer. "I'd still be there, but Mungo's has a strict policy for healers in their residency. We're not allowed to do three shifts in a row."

That made sense. Controlling magic is difficult under the best of circumstance, so when you're exhausted you're more prone to mistakes. "Is that what Dad's taking care of, then?"

"Yeah, I saw him for a bit. At the hospital."

We were both quiet for a few more minutes and then my brother said, rather unexpectedly, "I've been meaning to talk to you. What's going on with you and Jem?"

"Nothing," I answered, sharply, with a frown. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do," he insisted. He let out a long sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. "You're not talking to her; she's so upset about it."

"I am talking to her. After all, she's in my room at Hogwarts; I couldn't stop talking to her even if I wanted to," I pointed out.

"Yes, I know, but she's told me your friendship isn't…" he hesitated and looked down at his bottle. "Lils, you have to ease up on her. She wanted to tell you, she was just waiting for the right time."

Clearing my throat, I looked at him resolutely. My tone was icy, "Well, walking in on you with your tongue shoved down her throat wasn't it, was it?"

He flushed. "Lily, stop being such a baby. I don't even get what the big deal is."

"The big deal?" I stood up angrily and my chair flew back. "She's my _best friend_! My first friend at Hogwarts, EVER. She didn't give a damn that our dad was Harry Potter or that you were my brother. She used to make fun of the girls who fell for you! All the girls there, they all followed after you, thinking you were so special, but she didn't." Glaring at him, I shook my head. "You just couldn't leave it alone. What happened, you left Hogwarts and decided the women in the real world didn't idolize you enough, so you went back to school for a second helping?"

My brother's eyes were bright, his gaze fierce. "I happen to like her a lot, Lily. Watch what you say."

"Like her, do you?" I rolled my eyes. "As much as Sabrina? Or Eliza? Or Megan? Or Morgan? Or – wait – who was the girl that got your named tattooed on her arse? Nicollette? You broke up with her about two seconds after she got it, too!"

"Of course I did," he exclaimed. "You'd have, too. She was insane."

"That's not the point," I continued. "The point is that Jemma was the only one who was mine. My friend. Not some girl who wanted to date a Potter boy. And you ruined it, because – sure enough – the second she got together with you, she didn't even tell me. She hid it from me. I felt like such an _idiot_!"

"Lily." James had quieted down, his hold on his temper back. "She wanted to tell you, but I wouldn't let her."

"Why?"

"Because of all the reasons you just listed," my brother admitted, looking a little guilty. "I know I don't have the best history with girls."

I snorted at that and crossed my arms.

He ignored me. "So, I thought that if it was just a momentary thing… that it was best if we waited. She wasn't happy about it, but also thought it was a good point. She didn't want anything to muck up your friendship."

"Excellent plan there," I muttered under my breath.

"Lils, you have to talk to her. Just…" he took a deep breath and looked straight at me, "for me? I really like her and I hate that it's made things bad between you two."

For a second, I softened. It was rare my brothers asked me for anything. Then I thought about how he wouldn't need to be asking me if he'd just left well enough alone, and I stiffened. "No. If she has problems with me, then she just needs to come to me herself. It's already starting – you're talking on her behalf. Jemma's already more your girlfriend than my friend!"

As I whirled around and started to stalk out of the room, my brother's quiet voice stopped me. "Aren't you being a bit of a hypocrite?"

Slowly, I turned back to face him warily. "What do you mean?"

"You and Scorpius. Has he had a heart-to-heart with Albus lately?"

Blushing slightly, I stepped back. "There is nothing going on between me and Scorpius."

"Really?" My brother raised a brow. "Keep telling yourself that."

"I'm not telling myself that. I'm telling YOU that," I replied, crossly.

"Fine." James tossed the butterbeer bottle in the rubbish and then started to head out the door. "But, fair warning, I'm going to have a lot of fun with this when the shoe's on the other foot. Whether it's tomorrow or years from now."

After he'd left, I looked around the kitchen and tried to figure out what the hell he was talking about.

_The second time…._

I touched Scorpius Malfoy of my own volition was when I was drunk. Utterly and completely plastered.

After my talk with James, I had begrudgingly arrived at the conclusion that I was being an immature moron. That resulted in me having a long talk with Jemma, where we both shed copious amounts of tears, and made many mutual promises of never abandoning our friendship over a boy ever again. Of course, this still didn't stop Jemma from spending as much free time with James as she possibly could, but I had decided to try to ignore that.

And that's how I came to be at _Wicked_, a new club that had opened up in London. It was a new attraction, because it was operated by both Muggle and Wizard owners. So, it was located in Muggle London, but open only to those of the Wizarding world, where they served both Muggle and regular drinks. James had a night off from work and he'd invited Jemma to go with him. We'd just finished moving into our new flat, and were both ready to blow off steam, so I agreed when she urged me to join them.

About twenty minutes into the evening, I was whole-heartedly regretting my decision. The two had already had three snogging sessions and I could have sworn I saw my brother's hand wander to inappropriate places. I wasn't a prude, by any means, but a sister had her limits.

They finally broke apart to get some oxygen and James went off to get some drinks. Once he was swallowed up by the crowd, Jemma turned to me with a dreamy smile. "Isn't this place wonderful?"

"How would you know?" I asked, tartly. "All you've seen is my brother's face _while you're sucking on it_."

"Sorry." But Jemma didn't look the least bit guilty; instead, she had a twinkle in her eyes. She glanced around and then cried out, "Oh, look, there's Scorpius!" Before I could protest, she'd waved towards him and called him over to join us.

I looked him over, a bit critically, and suddenly felt like I'd swallowed about fifty Fizzing Whizbees in one shot. He was wearing a dark button-down dress shirt, with black trousers, and his blonde-white hair was tousled, several strands constantly falling into his eyes. It was the first time, in a long time, I'd seen him in anything other than his Auror robes or the ratty jeans he favored when visiting the Hollow.

He carried a Muggle beer in his hand, and he said to Jemma, with a smile, "How are you, Jem? Been a long time."

"I'm doing great. What are you doing here?" With a grin, she asked, "They let you out over in the Auror office?"

"I'm actually here with a few people from work," Scorpius answered, with a smile of his own. He flicked a glance in my direction. "They invited me to join them."

I looked down at my shoes, hiding a grin.

"Why don't you come join us?" Scorpius asked, politely.

My head shot up. As much as I hated being with Jem and James, I wasn't exactly happy about spending the evening with Scorpius, either.

Before I could say anything, Jemma said, "We'd love to. Let me just go find James and we'll meet you there." She turned to me and pushed me in his direction. "You can go with Scorp, Lily. No need for both of us to go look for James."

Then she disappeared, the traitor. Sucking in a deep breath, I turned to Scorpius and said, "All right, then. Lead the way."

He led me to a table full of people around our age, all of them were laughing and joking around. When we got there, several of them looked up at us.

"Everyone, this is Lily." Scorpius indicated towards them and, to me, he said, "Lily, this is everyone."

One girl, a blonde with long hair and vivid blue eyes, giggled. "You'll have to do better than that, Malfoy." She grinned at me and held out her hand. "I'm Christina."

"And I'm Ryder," the dark haired guy next to her said, with a slight wave, as he threw his arm over Christina's shoulders. "And this," he indicated towards the girl sitting on his other side, "is Sarah."

The last guy at the table, a tall man with dark skin and light hazel eyes, smiled and said, "I'm Richard."

"Nice to meet you all," I answered, with a smile of my own. They seemed nice. Scorpius pulled out a chair for me and I sat down with them. "As Scorp said, I'm Lily."

"And how do you know _Scorp_, Lily?" Sarah asked, with a bit a teasing smile.

The two of us glanced at each other and then I said, "We were in Hogwarts together." At the same time, Scorpius said, "Her brother is a good friend of mine."

They looked confused and I smiled weakly. "Both, really."

Christina was staring at me with an intense look on her face. "Do you work at the Ministry, Lily? I could have sworn I've seen you there before. You look so familiar." Turning to Ryder, she asked, "Doesn't she look familiar?"

Ryder tilted his head. "Yeah, you kind of do."

Shifting uncomfortably in my seat, I answered, slowly, "Well, I don't work there, but I've been there a bit over the years. My father works there."

Suddenly, the atmosphere around the table shifted as everyone looked at each other and made the connection.

"Lily Potter." Sarah took a sip of her drink nervously. "You're Auror Potter's daughter."

Richard gave me a hard look. "You're our boss's daughter." Then, he paused and added, "Actually, you're our boss's- boss's-boss's daughter."

Inwardly, I cursed my father for being both famous and intimidating to boot. But, outwardly, I just plastered a grin on my face. "Yes, well, do try not to hold it against me, will you?" And then, looking around, I motioned towards the server to come to our table. "How about the next round of drinks is on me?" I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Scorpius give me a look, but he didn't say anything.

Then the drinks starting coming and I was too busy having a good time to focus on the man sitting to me. More and more people joined our party, and that made him press up closer and closer. I wanted to move away from his heat, but didn't have a choice but to burrow in. It was either that or end up on Richard's lap. And Richard definitely looked like he wouldn't have minded.

By the time the club closed, I was ready to call it a night. But when I tried to remember how to Disapparate to my address, my brain was too fuzzy to come up with the coordinates. A strong arm caught me around the shoulders when I wobbled on my heels a bit.

"Lily." Scorpius looked at me with concern. "How much have you had to drink? What were you _thinking_?"

Blinking slightly, I tried to get his face into focus. "Um… do you know where I live? Because I don't."

He looked like he couldn't decide whether to laugh or to throttle me. "As it happens, I do know where you live. Hold on." He wrapped his arms around my waist tightly and took me along as he apparated to a location a few blocks from my new flat.

Scorpius frowned and looked around. "Where is it? I could have sworn this was the street Albus gave me."

"It's Unplottable," I told him. "And you can't apparate into it and out of it. And there's a Fidelius Charm on it." With a hiccup, I started to giggle. "Me, Jem, and my Dad are secret keepers."

His brows furrowed in confusion. "Why do you have so many protections in place?"

I looked up at him like he was an idiot. "Have you met my father? Hello."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "All right, well, you'll have to tell me where it is. I can't just leave you here."

So, I told him and he put his arm around me to keep me steady on my feet as we walked a few blocks in the warm, summer evening. After a second, my feet started to hurt, so I took off my shoes. Scorpius looked like he was going to say something, but then just shrugged.

When we got to my row of buildings, the small house that held my apartment started to appear. I pointed at it and gave him my full address, so he could enter. When we got to the door, I had to tap my wand a few times. The outer door opened, but then we came across another one with a mirror on it.

The mirror asked, "What was the present your father gave you for your thirteenth Christmas?"

My brain was starting to hurt and the room appeared to be shifting on its axis. I stared at the mirror and said, "Sod off. I don't remember."

"Then you can't enter," the mirror responded, primly.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" I groaned. "I hate you so much." I looked towards Scorpius, who was standing there looking incredibly confused. "It was my dad's idea. He took the mirror from the Burrow and made some adjustments."

"Right." He gave me another odd look and then cleared his throat. "Ask it to give you another question."

"IT can hear you," the mirror responded, clearly annoyed. "And you need to trim your hair, young man." To me, the mirror said, "You can't get another question. You must answer this one or else Harry Potter has to let you in." The mirror sounded delighted at the prospect.

"Oh, no…." I moaned. "I cannot call my father. No way."

"It was a necklace, with a pendent in the shape of a lily," Scorpius said to the mirror, in a quiet voice. "Now will you let us in?"

The door swung open and I followed him into my apartment, feeling utterly bewildered. When we got into the living room, he settled me down on the couch and then went to the kitchen. It seemed he was making tea.

"How did you know that?" I finally asked him, after the room stopped spinning a bit. "About the necklace?"

He focused on putting opening all my cupboards, presumably looking for tea bags. "Ah… it was just a good guess."

"No, it wasn't." I pushed my hair out of my eyes and sat up on the sofa. "How did you know?"

"I was at your place that Christmas." The tea pot started whistling, so he took it off the burner and poured steaming water into two mugs. "You were pretty excited about it. And you asked me to help you put it on." 

"I did?" I whispered, trying to recall that night, long ago, but the memory proved elusive. Which wasn't surprising, since I was having problems even recalling my own name at the moment. "Well, that was very nice of you."

"Quite." Clearly amused, he came to the sofa and handed me my mug of tea. "Drink that. It'll settle your stomach."

As directed, I took a few sips. Then, decisively, I put my mug down on the table and turned to him. Taking his mug out of his hand, I put his down on the other table. Scorpius shot me a confused look. "What, is it not good? I have to admit, I don't usually drink tea, I -"

I kissed him, cutting off the rest of his words.

When we broke apart, he finished, weakly, "Usually drink coffee." Then he frowned and said, "Lily, what are you -?"

Ignoring him, I shifted until I straddling my legs across his lap, my dress tight dress riding up my thighs in result. As though automatically, his hands fell down to my hips and he moved, so I could fit against him more comfortably.

Leaning down, I grazed my lips against his softly. "I'm so sick of this. I want you, you want me. Let's do something about it."

"Lily, no, we…."

I covered my mouth with his, working my lips against his and prodding him with my tongue, seeking access. When he finally started kissing me back, I flicked my tongue against his and felt a shot of a desire flow through my body. My fingers were tangled up in his shirt and, never breaking away, I started to unbutton the top most button. It proved elusive, since my coordination wasn't working as properly as I would have liked.

Breaking away, I took a breath and exclaimed, "You have too many damn buttons!" Then I had a brilliant idea and grabbed my wand. "_Accio_ buttons."

Scorpius let out a curse as his buttons ripped off his shirt and flew towards me. I ducked and burrowed my head on his now very naked chest and then mumbled, "Hhhmm… nice." I leaned back to get a good look at him, and swallowed when I saw the defined ridges of his muscles and I could help but run my fingers lightly over the firm, flat plane of his abdomen.

"Lily!" He picked me up and pushed me off of him. Standing up, he tried pull his shirt back together. After a second he gave up and gave me a horrified look. "What are you _doing_?"

"Good point." I nodded reasonably. Sitting up on my knees on the sofa, I grasped the hem of my dress. "It's not fair for me to just get rid of _your_ clothes."

I pulled off my dress and tossed it off to the side, so I wearing only my black bra and a black, lace underwear. I was glad that I'd decided to dress up and this was the only underwear set that matched my dress. Especially when I saw the way he gulped when he let his eyes rakes over me. He only gave himself a minute, though, and then he closed his eyes.

"You need to put your dress back on." Scorpius said through gritted teeth, his eyes closed. "Actually, better, yet." He held out his own wand and said, "_Accio_, nightgown."

A very tiny, lacy and see-through nightie came flying through to the living room. Scorpius caught it in his hand and then frowned. "What -?"

"That was Jemma's room," I told him, with another giggle. "But I'll try it on, if you want."

Rolling his eyes, he tossed it onto the floor. "Come with me." He grasped my hand and started pulling me into my bedroom.

"Now, we're _talking_," I exclaimed, quite enthusiastically. I attempted to kiss him again, but he just picked me up and threw me on the bed. Then he began rummaging around in my drawers until he found a long, cotton nightgown.

He tossed it towards me. "Here, put this on."

I looked at the offending garment with disgust. "What? You're joking! My Great-Aunt Muriel gave me that. I'm not wearing it."

"Yes, you are." Scorpius looked like he was going to do me bodily harm. Before I could argue, he'd come to the bed and managed to get it over my head. Within seconds, I was covered in yards and yards of cotton.

Looking up at him, I pouted. "You are NO fun. I don't get you! You're always tossing me about, kissing me. Now, I kiss you and you act like I've got spattergroit!"

"You cannot hold your liquor, can you? " Scorpius sat down the edge of the bed and frowned. "If I do this, I'm taking advantage of you. Setting aside that I'm a bit of a better person than that, do you know what would happen if your brothers and father found out?"

"Nothing," I answered, sullenly. "Because they wouldn't."

"That's where the honor thing comes in, then." He smiled at me and kissed me on the forehead. "Now, I'm going to do something that should help you sleep."

The last memory I had was of him setting his wand against my hair, rather gently. After that, everything went dark.

The next morning, when I woke up, I felt like the World Quidditch Cup's final match had been held in my head. My eyes were dry and my mouth felt like cotton balls were shoved in it. After opening one eye a crack, I saw that there was a note on my nightstand table, along with a small flask filled with a dark green potion.

Sitting up rather gingerly, I managed to pull the note towards me and read it.

_Dear Lily, _

_You should drink this. James and Albus swear by it. Best hangover cure in the world. Also, I put a bucket next to your bed, just in case._

_Take care, _

_S.M. _

I frowned slightly. Just in case of what? Then, I felt my stomach rebel and I choked, reaching for the bucket and just barely making it in time.

_The third time…. _

I touched Scorpius Malfoy of my own volition was on a date that I hadn't actually planned to be on with him in the first place.

After spending several hours trying to recover from the worst hangover I'd ever had, I had finally managed to pull myself together enough to go hunt him down. I had no clue where he lived, and would never in a million years ask either of my brothers, so I decided that the easiest thing to do was to go down to the Ministry.

It turned out not to be so easy. As soon as I stepped foot onto the Auror department's floor, I bumped into my Uncle Ron.

"Lily!" Uncle Ron stepped back and looked me over. And then he gave me a big hug. "What are you doing here?"

"I… ah…" I looked about, attempting to come up with an excuse. "I'm here to take my dad out to lunch. Surprise him, you know."

"Oh." Uncle Ron looked a little confused, but he said, "Well, Harry'll be glad to see you, I'm sure. But you know, his office is three floors up."

As he started to head towards the lifts, I asked him, "Um, Uncle Ron, do you know where Scorpius Malfoy sits?"

He stopped and turned towards me. With a frown, he asked, "Why would you need to know that?"

"I had a message, from Albus," I told him, completely improvising on the spot. "You know where his desk is?"

"Down the left, about fifteen cubicles down."

With a grateful smile, I headed in that direction. When I got to his cubicle, I stopped and cleared my throat.

Scorpius looked up. "Lily? What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, actually." On my way there, I had told myself that I wasn't going to beat around the bush. "Can we talk somewhere in private?"

Looking slightly alarmed, he jumped to his feet. "Of course."

Silently, I followed him down a few corridors, until we came to a room. He opened the door and gestured that I should go in first. Then, he followed and shut the door behind him.

I looked around; it was a rather dark and unpleasant room, with a long table and a few chairs in it. "What is this place?"

"It's one of our interrogation rooms."

"Remind me to never break the law if this is where one ends up." I shuddered. And then I turned to him and said, "I wanted to thank you. And apologize. For last night."

If he looked surprised, he didn't show it. But he did step back and thrust his hands in his robe pockets. "You don't need to apologize. Or thank me." With a shrug, he added, "It wasn't a big deal. It happens."

"Oh?" I started laughing. "Do a lot of girls get drunk and throw themselves at you, then?"

His lips turned up in a wicked smile. "Girls don't need to be drunk to throw themselves at me, usually. At least, that's the way I prefer it."

Grinning up at him, I bit my bottom lip. "Right." Then, I caught him staring at my lips, so I stopped and looked around nervously. "Anyway, thank you. For being a gentleman."

With a nod, he said, "You're welcome." When the silence stretched out between us, he broke it to say, "So is that it? Then, I should head back to my desk…."

As he turned and reached for the doorknob, I blurted out, "Will you go out with me? On a date?"

Scorpius froze and then turned to face me, an indefinable expression on his face. Suddenly, I was reminded of the time, years ago, when I'd stood before him and asked him out. And how he'd said 'no' then. I really hoped history wasn't going to repeat itself.

"Why?" he asked, finally. He looked at me searchingly. "You seemed to be clear dead-set against us having anything to do with each other."

I really didn't know what to say. Because the truth was that I had no intention of asking him out. It just kind of happened. "Well, you know."

Scorpius looked amused. "No, I don't know."

"A girl can change her mind, can't she?" I gave him a challenging look. "But, if you don't want to, then that's -."

"No," he cut in, quickly. "I didn't say that. I will. In fact, I'll pick you up at seven."

"Tonight?" I frowned. "That's a bit soon, isn't it? I mean, I was thinking next week; we can take it slow…."

"I'm not giving you time to back out," Scorpius replied, with a grin. And then he left, leaving me alone in the room to ponder what I'd just gotten myself into.

Once I got past the initial awkwardness, the date was incredibly fun. We talked and laughed about our problems at work. I poured out all the frustrations about the problems I was having at the _Daily Prophet_ and how my editor refused to print any of the articles I'd give him. No matter how much I tried, I always ended up getting assigned research work. Scorpius was attentive and sympathetic, giving me advice that was helpful while, at the same time, not patronizing. I told him about how my greatest ambition was to have my own column at the newspaper and, instead of laughing at me, he told me solemnly that I would be perfect at it.

From his side, he told me about how things had eased up at the Ministry and he'd made quite a few good friends, along with being assigned a partner he felt he could rely on. Apparently, he'd made a few high profile arrests and so his team believed that he was a force for good. And it also turned out that they weren't as much annoyed with him being a Malfoy as they were annoyed with him for being such good friends with Albus Potter. They were concerned my dad was giving him preferential treatment.

As we were walking home back to my flat, he said, "I must be the first Malfoy in the history of my family tree to actually NOT want preferential treatment."

"Well, my dad sees something in you, though," I told him, quite honestly. "He wouldn't take such an interest in you if he didn't think so. I mean, I remember when Teddy tried to be an Auror. Those three months were a disaster! And my father did not give do him any special favors, and my dad's his godfather."

"Right." Scorpius nodded and smiled.

We'd arrived at my doorstep. I looked at my entrance and then him nervously. "Do you want to come in for a nightcap? Jemma's bound to be at James' place."

Scorpius hesitated and then glanced towards the door. "Hmm... you know, I think I'll take a rain check."

"Okay," I answered, feeling confused. I had thought we'd had a great time. I moved a little closer to him, expecting him to lean down to kiss me.

Instead, he stepped back and said, "Good night, Lily."

As he turned to walk away, I stared dumbly after him. Then, I ran down my steps and asked, "Wait, what are you doing?"

He turned back. "What?"

Rolling my eyes slightly, I asked, tartly, "Aren't you going to kiss me good night?"

"Do you _want _me to kiss you good night?" Scorpius asked, looking perplexed. "I'm trying to take it _slow_."

"You don't need to be that slow, you idiot." Getting close enough to touch him, I planted both hands on his chest and stood on tip-toe to give him a quick kiss. "There. Now, that's how you end a date _properly_."

When I turned to go back to my front door, he reached out and grabbed my arm. Whirling me back around to face him, he leaned down and gave me a hard and thorough kiss. When I pulled back, he said, "_That's_ how you end a date properly."

Then he stepped back and Disapparated away. Putting my fingers to my swollen lips, I couldn't help but let out a little laugh.


	5. Slept, Part 1

_A/N: Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review. I appreciate it so much… really keeps me motivated to keep on writing, otherwise I just feel like the hours end up going nowhere. So, THANK YOU and I'm so happy you're enjoying the story! _

_xxxxxxx_

_The first time…_

I slept with Scorpius Malfoy was a few weeks after our first date. It wasn't something I planned, it just happened.

After the first date, we'd gone out several more times. Almost every night that we both had off (he was busy at work, so was I). A few dates had led to him coming up to my apartment and we engaged in marathon long snogging and make-out sessions. But, invariably, it never much beyond that.

Then, one night, I was sitting at my tiny kitchen table, attempting to sort through my research notes for an article idea I planned to submit to my editor, when I heard my doorbell ring.

With a frown, I put down my quill, and went to check who it was. Very few people knew my address, so it was more than likely one of my brothers. When I looked through the peephole, I was surprised to see Scorpius there.

I opened the door with a grin. "What are you doing here? I thought you had a late shift tonight?"

He came in and I saw he was carrying bags of Chinese take-out. After a quick kiss, he moved past me to put down the food. "Elaina wasn't feeling well, so we traded our shift for Ryder and Christina's."

Elaina was his partner. "Oh, is she all right?"

"Yes, I think so. Just a bad cold." Scorpius turned to face me and leaned back against the counter. Suddenly, my very small kitchen seemed even tinier. His eyes raked over my body and he grinned.

Glancing down, I realized I was wearing one of my rattiest old Hogwarts t-shirts – it had once belonged to my brother, so it over-sized and had a few holes. Under that, I wore black leggings. My hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail and I wore no make-up. I also wasn't wearing a bra, and I was fairly certain my knickers had a few holes in them.

I flushed. "I…um… wasn't expecting you."

"Clearly," he answered, appearing to be very amused by my flustered expression. Then, he turned back towards the food. "Have you eaten? I didn't have dinner, yet, so I thought I'd just bring it here."

"No, I haven't," I admitted. The food smelled scrumptious. "Thanks. I'll just go change and…."

I started to head towards the bedroom, but he was quicker. He came up behind me and slid his arms down my arms and then around my waist. Bending down slightly, he said into my ear, "Don't change on my account. I think you look cute."

Glancing back towards him, I tried to hold back my laughter. "By cute, do you mean like a bag lady?"

"No, I mean cute like I want to take that shirt off and see if you're really not wearing a bra underneath." Scorpius dropped a kiss on my neck and then began to work his way down my collarbone and shoulder. His hand were at my waist and I felt his fingers stroke the bare skin right at the edge of my leggings.

Feeling breathless and overcome with the sensations rocking through me at his light touch, I said, flirtatiously, "So, why don't you?"

He froze for a second and then, slowly, turned me around to face him. His eyes were a deeper grey than usual, and he stroked a stray strand of hair away from my face. "Ah… are you sure?"

Rolling my eyes, I wound my arms around his neck and started to kiss him; he tasted so good, like mint and chocolate. His hands clasped my hips and he lifted me up; my legs automatically wrapped around his waist as he carried me back towards my bedroom.

When we got to the bed, he put me down, following after me, our lips never breaking apart. His hands were exploring my body, stoking the slow burn gathering in me into a full flame; finally, he pulled away long enough to pull off my shirt.

For a second, he just stared down at me and then said, in a husky voice, "You are so beautiful."

Unable to handle the intense scrutiny, I let out a laugh. "Less talking, Scrop. More doing." I slid my hand over the back of his neck and yanked him down, pressing my mouth against his and licking his tongue with mine.

Within seconds, we both divested each other of our clothing, and his lips and hands were everywhere at once, while at the same time not being enough. He pressed open-mouthed kisses down my body and I slid my fingers in his hair, wanting to kiss and taste him desperately.

The first time was frenzied and fast, all heat and pent-up passion. The second time, he was gentler and took it slow, as though he were trying to memorize every inch of my body and imprint himself on me. Afterwards, we went into the kitchen and had cold Chinese take-out, but then ended back in bed an hour later. Finally, we both fell into an exhausted sleep around five in the morning.

**xxx**

When I woke up, I felt disoriented and wondered why I was sleeping on the wrong side of the bed. Then, I felt a heavy arm draped over my waist and I glanced down, and the events of the previous night flooded back to me. There was a pleasant ache in various regions of my body. I felt sated and boneless, and I shifted to turn around and look at Scorpius. He was still asleep and he looked much younger than he normally did. Also much less serious and relaxed. His messy hair had fallen over his eyes again and I took a second to brush it back.

Then, my stomach growled, which wasn't a surprise since we'd barely managed it to make it past a few bites of fried rice and lo mein before Scorpius had pulled my bathrobe off and gone for shagging session number four on my living room floor. I tried to ignore the pangs of hunger and snuggled back up against Scorp's naked body, but my stomach rebelled. Unfortunately, one of the things I've inherited from the Weasley side of my family tree is the need to eat a three-course meal at least four times a day.

So, slowly, as not to wake him, I slid out from under his arm and grabbed my wand from the bedside table. Pulling on my bathrobe, I headed out to the kitchen to conjure up some breakfast. And the stopped short when I saw Jemma already there, banging about.

"Jem!" I exclaimed, in a loud voice. "What are you doing here?"

My friend gave me an odd look. "I live here, remember?"

"No, yeah, of course you do…." My voice trailed off nervously and I looked back at my bedroom. Quickly, I flicked my wand towards the door and shut it. "It's just that I thought you were at James' last night? You usually go to work straight from there."

"Your brother is an asshole," Jemma bit out, her American accent more pronounced than usual. She pulled out a couple of eggs from the carton and broke them into a bowl. She didn't seem to notice that a few pieces of shell were still floating in the bowl as she whisked up the eggs angrily.

"Er… right." I glanced back towards the room. "Um… I can't disagree. Listen, why don't you let me do that?" Looking around the messy kitchen, I quickly cast a cleaning spell, sweeping the used of Chinese food cartons in the rubbish before she could notice it was too much food for one person. "What are you… uh… doing, exactly?"

"Making French toast," she said, in a short voice. Casting a baleful look at me, she added, "I don't why… it just makes me feel better."

I nodded in sympathy; Jemma was a stress-eater. "Tell you what, dear, why don't you let ME make the toast and you can go take a nice bath?"

With a frown, she looked down at her egg mixture and then considered me for a second. "Okay. But you're not going to do anything disgusting with it, are you? I mean, what does British French toast taste like? You guys do some weird things to food here."

"Hhhmm… ah…." I tried to remember how to make it, given that I'd only ever eaten it at the Burrow for Sunday breakfasts growing up. "Well, I mean, we call it eggy bread. And I… I guess… I mean, in my family, we eat it with ketchup. My Gran usually has ham on the side and -"

"That's disgusting!" Jemma made a face and went back to whisking at a faster pace. "It's supposed to be a SWEET dish."

"Oh." I heard movements in my bedroom behind me and, almost desperately, I lunged over towards the kitchen. "You know what? I'll figure it out. I've got a cookbook around here somewhere. You go, get a nice bath in. It'll make you feel better."

Shoving the confused and protesting Jemma towards the bathroom, I pushed her in with a smile. "Seriously. Trust me."

Jemma stood there, her hands on her hips and then she said, "Oh, all right. I suppose you're right. A bath does sound nice."

"Good." I closed the door behind me and, for good measure, put a muffling spell on the door.

Just in time, because Scorpius came out of my room just seconds later, looking all together much too delicious in just his black slacks and no shirt.

With a slow smile, he came towards me, "Good morning." He clasped my hands and tugged me towards him. "Where'd you go?"

I pulled back and hissed under my breath, "Yes, yes, it was wonderful. You rocked my world. But we have NO time for this. You need to go." I pushed past him and almost ran back to my room and gathered up his shirt and tie, tossing them towards him.

He caught both easily, but he frowned. "What the hell?"

"Jemma is back," I stated, as though that explained everything. Then, I got down on the floor, looking for his shoes. I spied one under the bed and the other one was near the chair in the corner of the room.

"So?" Scorpius yanked on his shirt and tossed his tie around his neck, letting it dangle there. "What difference does it make?"

I silently handed him his shoes and began urging him towards the door.

"Wait." He turned to me, looking as though he had just registered what was going on. "You haven't told her we're seeing each other." When I didn't respond, he said, slowly, "Unbelievable, Lily. Have you told ANYONE?"

At that, I asked, with a raised brow, "Have you?"

He hesitated and admitted, "No. But it's not like I'm actively hiding it, either. I haven't seen Albus for a few weeks and -."

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you have good reasons," I cut in. With a nervous glance towards the bathroom, I started to push him out the door again. "We can't talk about this right now. Just… just go along with it, all right?"

Scorpius's mouth opened, like he planned to argue.

I looked up at him pleadingly. "PLEASE?"

His jaw snapped shut and then he said, in a stiff tone, "All right. But only because I have to be at work in one hour," he added, in a warning tone. "And we _will_ be talking about this."

After he'd left, I turned my attention to the kitchen, and tried to figure out how to make American eggy bread.

**xxx**

About thirty minutes later, my friend emerged from the bathroom, wearing an old, ratty bathrobe and a dejected face. I put my culinary efforts in front of her, expecting her to throw a fit since I wasn't quite sure the food was edible, let alone similar to her mother's cooking.

She just sat down silently and picked at it.

Finally, I asked her, "What happened?"

"I don't know," she wailed, suddenly looking like she was going to break down crying. "I mean, last night, we were walking home from a nice dinner date on Diagon Alley. That new restaurant, you know, that opened up?"

I'd read the review in the _Daily Prophet_, so I nodded.

"And we passed by this jewelry store," she continued, while she cut into her toast. "So, I stopped, just to check out the display. And I mentioned that there was a really pretty ring…." Her voice trailed off and she stuff a piece of toast into her mouth.

My brows rose. "You showed my brother an engagement ring? Jem, you two haven't even been dating for a year!"

"I know," she said crossly, giving me a dirty look. "I didn't meant it like that. It was just a random comment. But that's EXACTY how your brother took it. And then we back to his place and…." She paused and blushed a bit, and said, "you know."

I rolled my eyes and made a gagging motion. "I do know, thanks. I don't need you to go into that much detail."

"Anyway, later on, he was acting funny and one thing led to another, and… well… he is an asshole, Lily." She gulped down some of the tea I'd set next to her plate. "He thought even the IDEA was crazy. So, when I asked him if it was so crazy to think about himself marrying me, then why was he even with me? And he said," she looked like she was on the verge of tears again, "… he said he was just… having… fun."

Reaching out, I patted her on the back while she broke down crying. I conjured up a handkerchief and handed it to her. Once she'd gotten herself under control, I felt it was safe enough to point out, "Well, you are just having fun. You're eighteen, he's only twenty-two. You weren't really thinking that he would be the bloke you'd marry."

Jemma moved the handkerchief away from her eyes. "Well, what if I was," she answered in a defensive voice. At my incredulous look, she said, a bit defiantly, "Why not? Your parents were together since they were sixteen. Your aunts and uncles. Even your grandparents. Do you know how many Hogwarts students end up marrying each other?"

Blinking slightly, I said, "Er… no."

"Seventy-five percent," she said, with a nod. "There have been studies. Seventy-five percent of the students that graduate from Hogwarts end up marrying someone they went to school with."

"Well, that makes sense," I replied, giving it some thought. "I mean, if you're British and a wizard, you're definitely going to Hogwarts. Our studies take about seven years, so you end up overlapping with a fairly large group of wizards during that seven year period… and the wizarding world is pretty small. The only way you'd end up with someone who you didn't go to school with is if you marry someone MUCH younger or older…. OR someone who went to one of only five other schools of magic around the world,… OR you marry a Muggle. And, let's face it, most people don't leave Europe much after graduating from Hogwarts, so – yes – I suppose that statistic makes sense."

She stared at me blankly. And then gave me a watery smile. "And you always wonder why you were sorted into Ravenclaw."

I ignored that. "But, Jem, even if it's a given that you're to end up marrying some bloke from Hogwarts –why would you think that it would be my brother? The longest commitment he's ever made was with his _Nimbus Infinity_ and – even that – he upgraded after a year."

Jem flushed. She twisted the handkerchief in her hand. "Because I'm in love him."

"Oh, dear Merlin, please tell me you're not." I was horrified. "Jem, I told you not to do that!"

"I couldn't help it!"

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I glanced at the clock in our living room. "Jem, I have to go. I need to be in early today to work on some research I wasn't…." I stopped, looking at the pile of work on the dining table that I'd completely ignored last night. My cheeks heated up, but my friend didn't notice. Clearing my throat, I completed, "Anyway, I have to go. Why don't you call in and just rest today?"

She nodded and took another bite of the toast. "Okay, will do."

"I'll come straight home and we'll stay in tonight, all right?" I told her, as I started to gather all my things and stuff them in my work bag. "Watch movies or something." As I headed towards the shower, I looked back towards the dejected figure of my friend and a stray thought entered my mind: _I never want to look like that over a guy. _

_The second time…._

I slept with Scorpius Malfoy was at his flat, because it was impossible to get Jemma to leave mine.

It had been several weeks since the last time we'd spent the night together. Oh, we went out on plenty of dates; managing to get together at odd moments. A few coffees here and there, some lunches. We'd even managed, a few times, to have him sneak over to my place during the day for lunch, which led to incredibly pleasant physical activities that I was very quickly getting addicted to.

Now, for the first time in a long time, Jemma was going out for the evening with a few of her girlfriends from work, so I'd been able to go on a proper date that ended with me going back to his place.

I looked around his spacious flat, which was decorated in an ultra-chic and modern style. All black leather, steel, and chrome. It was sparkling clean, which must have involved some pretty advanced cleaning charms, since a lot of the place was white. It was the most modern looking flat I've ever seen a wizard live in and it also seemed very Muggle-like. In fact, it was even located in an upscale Muggle neighborhood.

I pointed out my confusion to him and he winced. "Actually, this property has been owned by the Malfoy family for centuries. This is the most recent iteration of it. Before I moved in, there were some Muggles renting the place."

"I thought the Malfoys were against everything Muggle related."

"Not when it makes them money," Scorpius pointed out, with an attempt at a smile. "Muggle blood may be dirty, but money is pure no matter where they're getting it from. And this property has been very lucrative for them."

"Did you decorate it?" I asked, running my hand along the length of the black leather sofa.

"No, my mother hired a Muggle decorator." He looked around his apartment, as though he were seeing it through my eyes. "But, I do like it."

"It's nice," I said, nodding. "Not exactly my style, but it seems to suit you."

"Why do you say that?" he asked, with a genuine smile this time.

"Oh, I don't know," I answered thoughtfully, and in a teasing voice, "Maybe it's because you match. Your ice-blonde hair, your metal eyes, your tendency to wear black clothes."

He started laughing. And then said, in a serious voice, "Come here."

Shivering slightly, I moved in his direction as though he'd mesmerized me. He drew me; tempted me. Memories of our time together, me moving on top of him, him touching me all over flooded my body with a sense of yearning and longing. It was all I could do not to run and jump on top of him.

When I stopped right in front of him, he put his hands on my shoulders and said, softly, "I missed you." His hands slid down over my bare arms, onto my waist and to the small of my back, enfolding me. I sank into his body, my hands sliding over his hard, muscled chest, only the thin material of his sweater separated his skin from mine.

His warm breath fanned my cheek until finally his mouth settled over mine. His kiss was tentative at first, seeking and searching, his tongue tasting and teasing me with small flicks and nibbles. It wasn't enough. I wanted him; hard, rough, with pure passion and no thought.

My hands immediately went down to his belt buckle and I began taking off his belt, deepening the kiss. When he still didn't seem to get the hint, I bit his lip and slid my hands up his arms, winding my arms around him as I ground against him.

At that point, he got the point and broke away, breathing rather heavily. "Um… the sofa or the bedroom?"

"Oh, the sofa, most definitely." I stepped back and fell onto the closest flat surface.

He chuckled and followed me down.

**xxx**

The next morning, the sun hit me straight in the eyes and woke me up bright and early. Blinking a bit, I realized that Scorpius's bedroom had an entire wall made up of glass. And we'd forgotten to draw the curtains the previous night. Thank Godric Gryffindor he lived in the penthouse, so no one could see us. I turned bright red at the thought of prim and proper Lily Luna Potter giving some random Muggles a show. I would have had to hunt them all down and obliviate their memories.

I saw that, once again, I'd woken up before Scorpius. He really was a heavy sleeper. With a fond smile, I kissed him on the cheek gently and then extricated myself from his arms. Since I didn't have a robe at his place, I pulled a sheet off the bed and wrapped myself up in it. And, then, deciding to make up for the disastrous morning that had occurred the last time, I got up to make him some breakfast.

I'd just entered his bedroom with a tray laden with eggs, buttered toast, and coffee when I saw that he wasn't in his bed. So, I put the tray down on a table he had in his room and started to head back towards the living room.

Right at the moment, he came in from another door, he was wiping his face with the edge of a towel he had slung across his neck. And he was wearing only a low-slung, loose pair of black jogging pants and nothing else. I considered skipping breakfast and just tossing him back into the bed.

Then, my stomach rumbled and I realized that I should at least have a piece of toast before I snogged him. So, I picked up one of the pieces from the tray and started munching.

His grin kicked up a notch. "I thought that was for me."

"It's for both of us," I said, through a mouthful of toast.

"So, it's a Potter thing, then? Speaking with your mouth full of food?" Scorpius asked, with a laugh. He headed towards the tray and picked up the cup of coffee.

I swallowed. "Nope. It's a Weasley thing. Honestly, our mother's genes make themselves known in the oddest ways."

Shaking his head slightly, he took a couple of sips of coffee and then looked me over. I was suddenly very conscious of the fact that I was only wearing a sheet and he was, more or less, wearing just as much clothing as me. I was just about to tell him we should do something about it when we were interrupted by a tapping at the window.

I looked past him and saw a large, white owl and it was carrying a very formal envelope.

Scorpius frowned. "That's odd. I wasn't expecting any post today." He went towards the heavy plates of glass that formed one entire wall and tapped his wand against one of the windows three times. It slowly opened and the owl came in, hooting shrilly the entire time.

"Easy now," he said, in a hush. "Let's get you some water."

I went in search a cup of water as he unhooked the envelope from the owl's leg. It refreshed, took a couple of sips, and then was off. And Scorpius was left with the envelope in his hand.

"Who is it from?" I asked curiously.

He slit it open with one finger, pulled out a heavy sheet of parchment, and then stared down at it for a moment. Then, in a quiet voice, he said, "It's a wedding invitation. For Teddy and Victoire's wedding."

"Oh, right." I shrugged and went back to eating my toast. For good measure, I dipped it in some of the eggs and then took another bite. "I got one, too."

"You did?" He glanced down at the invitation and then tossed it aside. "So, I am putting you down as my 'plus one' or are you putting me down?"

The last bit of toast went down the wrong way and I choked. Grabbing the second mug of coffee, I gulped it down fast. "Um…neither?" I finally managed to get out.

Scorpius didn't bother to hide his annoyance. "Teddy's wedding is two month's away. Are you seriously telling me you plan for us to keep this a secret until then? I thought these issues you had were _temporary_."

Letting out a sigh, I blew my bangs out of my eyes in frustration. It was becoming very clear that we weren't going to be indulging a morning shag, so I started to hunt down my clothes, heading out to the living room. Scorpius followed me.

"Look, I thought we agreed it was best to keep this between us for now -."

"You agreed; I argued," Scorpius corrected me. He stopped and leaned against his bedroom's doorframe, watching me as I found my knickers and bra and pulled them on. "I get that you're private and you have these issues with your family, but -."

"Issues with my family?" I snorted a bit in derision as I yanked on my dress over my head. My voice was muffled as I started, "Do you realize that the second they find out we're dating that every single thing will change? Rose will look at you differently…" I poked my head out and pulled down the rest of my dress and smoothed the wrinkled material over my hips. "Albus, my father, even my grandparents… they will all have about eighteen different things to say about this. Can we just keep things uncomplicated for now? Keep it simple?"

Scorpius looked utterly unconvinced. "I'll talk to Albus. He'll understand. And your father likes me… I think. And Rose? I could care less what she thinks. I would like your grandparents to be all right with it, but -."

"Don't you get it," I cut in. "It's not about their approval. It's about how it's none of their business." I put my hands on my hips and gazed across the room at him, trying to get him to understand. "My entire life, I've been the youngest girl. Every single person thinks they know what I should do before I even do it. You know happened when I decided to become a reporter? My Aunt Hermione almost staged an intervention!"

Blinking in confusion, Scorpius asked, "Why?"

With an irritable flick of my hand, I replied, "I don't know. Something about some reporter named Rita something that made my dad's life a living hell. She thought I was wasting my brains by becoming something so unnecessary. Wanted me to join the Magical Law Enforcement department at the Ministry."

"Just because some relative gave you some career advice doesn't mean that you have to hide your entire life from your entire extended family," Scorpius responded, evenly. "And you're being a bit of a hypocrite," Scorpius pointed out. "You were so angry at Jemma over this. What about what I'm doing to Al?"

"Yeah, and look how stellar their relationship turned out." Jemma and James had broken up and, after a very nasty exchange of words, Jemma had moved out of our flat and gone back to America. I'd sent her a few owls, but she hadn't answered any of my letters. "I lost my best friend because of that. I wish I hadn't known – then we might still be friends."

"Is that what you're afraid of? That we'll end up like Jemma and James?"

"No," I answered. "Yes. No… maybe." Shaking my head slightly, I finished, weakly, "I just… I want us to just take it slow. And bringing you home to meet my family is NOT taking it slow, Scorp. It's just not."

"Fine," he responded, tersely. He walked over and sat down next to me on the sofa. "Under two conditions."

"What are they?" I asked, with a wary glance in his direction.

"I'll give you until Teddy's wedding," he said, in a thread of determination in his voice. "Either you tell your family before then, or they'll find out at the wedding."

I thought about it for a second. Two months was a long time. If our relationship could survive until then, then it made sense to stop sneaking around. As it was, I didn't think I'd be able to hide it that long. "All right. What's your second condition?"

"I told my parents about us. And they want you to come over for Sunday dinner." He held up his hands to stifle my protests. "I don't keep secrets from my parents. And we agreed to keep it from your family, but not mine."

"It's the same thing." Rolling my eyes, I shifted back to glare at him. "Now, everyone will find out."

Scorpius looked a bit amused. "I honestly don't think Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter go out for a pint after work, Lily. Your secret's pretty much safe."

"Oh, all right, I guess that makes sense," I said, a bit begrudgingly.

"So, next Sunday? I'll tell my mother you'll be there?"

"Yes, I'll be there."

**xxx**

We decided to fly to the Malfoy Manor for dinner and my hair was a little worse for the wear when we got there. I jumped off my broomstick, landing on my feet lightly. After Scorpius had put both of our brooms away in the broom storage area of their estate, I ran my wand over my hair nervously, trying to do some last minute damage control.

Scorp watched me for a second and then said, "You look fine. Let's go." He grasped my hand and tugged me towards a winding walkway that led up to their mansion.

Yes, mansion. The Malfoy estate was bigger than I could have imagined. It was as big as our entire neighborhood in Godric's Hollow. When Scorpius opened the door, we entered a huge foyer and I looked around, noting the tasteful furniture and very ordinary portraits of Malfoy ancestors gracing the walls. It wasn't until that moment that I realized I'd expected all sorts of doom and gloom, and maybe even a few Dark objects leaping out to bite me.

_Crack! _

I jumped about two feet when a house elf apparated right in front of me. "Mistress Potter. Can Ezki take your shawl for you?"

Staring down at the house elf, who was wearing no more than a ratty old pillowcase, I swallowed. "Er… sure. Here you go." I handed it to the elf, who immediately disappeared with another crack.

Casting a side-long glance at Scorpius, I said, under my breath, "You have house elves? And they're not free?"

He shot me a confused look. "Yeah. We have several."

"You do know that my aunt is the head of the committee to free Magical Creatures-."

"Lily," he interrupted, putting his hands on my shoulders and guiding me towards a hallway. "Your relatives are all the head of something or another. It's hard to keep track sometimes. Come on, let's go say hello to my mum."

Snapping my mouth shut, I allowed him to guide me into a large sitting room, decorated in lily white and pale shades of green. A very pretty woman, with dark hair, came hurrying towards me.

"You must be Lily," she cried out, with a smile. She held out her hands and clasped mine, looking me over critically. Then, she kissed my cheeks. "Such a pleasure to meet you, at last. I'm Astoria, Scorpius's mother." With a slight laugh, she added, "As I'm sure you've pieced together."

With a smile of my own, I answered, "Of course. Thank you so much for having me."

"Of course, of course," she said, with a dismissive wave of her hand. With a slight smile directed towards Scorpius, she said, "I had to meet the person who put such a smile on my Scorpy's face."

As she turned away, I looked at him and saw he was flushed. I mouthed, "_Scorpy?_" And then made a show of miming that I was going to be making fun of him about that later.

Scorpius cleared his throat and bent down slightly to give his mother a kiss. "Where's Father, Mum?"

"In his study, where he always is," she answered, with a shake of her head. "I told Ezki to let him know you're here." Then, she turned to me with a gracious look. "Where are my manners? You must be parched after your journey. I told Scorpy to bring you by Floo, but he insisted on flying." Then she reached out and smoothed down an unruly section of my hair that had fallen across my shoulders. "There, that's better." Then she looked at my hair thoughtfully and pursed her lips, "I have never seen a color so vivid, my dear. What would you call that color?"

"Orange," I answered, rather truthfully. "I got it from my grandmother; my mother's hair is a little more red than orange."

"Yes, I've seen your mother," Astoria responded. "She's very pretty."

I wondered what that meant. Was it to imply that I wasn't living up to the standards that Ginny Weasley-Potter had set in terms of beauty? Or was she just stating it as a matter of fact statement, like most people do? Forcing a smile to my lips, I just answered, "So, I've heard. Of course, to me, she's just my mum."

Scorpius's mother tilted her head to the side and considered me for a moment. "Yes, I guess that makes sense." Then, shaking her head a bit, she turned towards the bar that was in one corner. "But your brothers have black hair, no? I remember Albus visiting here a few times. So, the hair's not entirely a given."

"I… er…." I paused and thought about it. "I suppose not. I'm the only one who inherited the red hair."

Astoria nodded, appearing to be satisfied with that answer. "What would you like to drink? I have quite a selection. Imported Algerian unicorn-berry wine, firewhiskey, mead, oh… and I have the most delicious dragon's breath sherry." She turned to me with a smile, "Would you like to try it?"

Before I could respond, Draco Malfoy walked into the room. I suddenly understood where Scorpius had inherited his propensity towards dark clothing from.

Scorpius's father strode in and stopped a few feet away from me. "Ah, Lily Potter. What an honor." With a stiff nod, he reached out to take my hand and we did an awkward hand-shake, with a bit of a leaning in thing for him to barely kiss my cheek.

"The honor's all mine," I answered, politely. "Thank you for having me to your home." I looked around the room and said, rather sincerely, "It's beautiful. And your estate is…." I struggled to find the right word. "Uh… rather large."

His lips twitched at that, but I couldn't tell if he was smiling or grimacing. "Yes, quite." Then, he turned to his wife and said, in a brisk tone, "I'll have a firewhiskey, love."

"Of course." She had already poured one out for him and handed it to him, as well as handing one to Scorpius. She turned to me with a questioning look.

"Oh, I'll… I'll try the sherry, thanks," I stammered out. I honestly didn't even really remember her choices. I'd sworn off drinking after the last time I'd gotten drunk, but I was sure she didn't want to hear that I was avoiding alcohol because I'd almost jumped her son. So, instead, I took the small glass from her with a smile and said, "Thank you."

We all sat down and made inane conversation about weather for a while. Astoria spoke a little about various charities she was involved with, and Scorpius's dad complained about the taxes. They each seemed to dote on Scorpius quite a bit, with his mother fussing over him because she was convinced he was too thin, and Scorpius's father asking, rather anxiously, if he was being careful while going about his Auror business.

Scorpius took their fussing in stride and even seemed to enjoy it a bit, much like James was with my parents. It was rather odd to see him there, sitting on a small green chair, nursing a glass of firewhiskey while he talked to his father about the Malfoy business, and made some idle suggestions that his father should consider.

It struck me - in one huge epiphany - that Scorpius looked like he belonged. Relaxed and at ease. It was disconcerting. Up until that day, I'd never actually see Scorpius with his family. The only time we had ever spent together had been either at Hogwarts or my family's house. This was the first time I'd seen him outside those parameters and it occurred to me that I'd pictured something utterly different.

Scorpius didn't talk about his family much, and whenever he did, he always adopted a fairly mocking and self-deprecating tone. So, I'd always assumed he didn't get along with this family. It was a shock to see that it was the complete opposite. Not only was he quite at ease and at home with his parents, he seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself. He and his father had their blonde heads together, and Scorpius was laughing at something his father had just said.

"Lily." Astoria touched my arm. It appeared she'd been trying to get my attention for a while, because her brows were furrowed in concern. "Are you all right? I thought we'd head into dinner now."

"Of course." I jumped to my feet with a bright smile.

As I followed Astoria, Scorpius came up next to me and slid his hand in mine. He gave it a reassuring squeeze and smiled at me. Then he led me to a cavernous dining room, which had a long formal table in the middle. The table could seat about twenty people, but it had been set for four.

"I thought we'd sit in the smaller dining room," Astoria told me, as though she were explaining something. "Much less formal."

Blinking at the massive table before us, set with gold goblets and silver plates, I answered, "Informal. Yes, of course."

We all settled down to eat, and the various courses passed by pleasantly enough. I had a feeling an army of house elves had produced the four course meal, and one elf kept coming in and out to refill my wine goblet. It wasn't odd being served by an elf – my family had one, named Kreacher, who had been with us since before I was born. What was odd was seeing them without clothes.

Our elf was free, and every elf that worked at Hogwarts was free. I knew, of course, that not all Wizarding families had yet adopted the free policy, since it was still voluntary and hadn't been passed into law, yet. But no one I knew still kept enslaved elves. And it was making me rather uncomfortable. I attempted to put it out of my mind, however, and focused on the meal and conversation.

By the time coffee and dessert was served, I was stuffed to the gills. Scorpius and his father had spent the better part of the evening talking about his father's business, with Scorpius listening and giving advice on various issues.

As I cut into my trifle, I head Mrs. Malfoy say, "All right, enough business talk. I'm sure you're boring poor Lily to death."

"No, it's quite all right," I assured her.

"Still." She looked at me thoughtfully. "Scorpius tells me you're reporter. What's that like, dear?"

I pushed a strand of hair behind my ear nervously. Putting down my spoon, I said, "It's quite… well… unremarkable, to be honest. I haven't had anything published, yet. So, I'm mainly a researcher for other reporters."

"Lily is a brilliant writer," Scorpius put in, with a smile towards me. "The editor at the _Prophet _is just a stupid prat that doesn't understand true talent."

I shot him a gratified smile, but I still felt horrible about my lack of talent and inability to get somewhere with my job.

"It's ironic you ended up working as a reporter for the _Prophet_," Scorpius's father said, unexpectedly. "They were quite the bane of your father's existence, back in our school days."

"Yes, so I've heard," I answered, easily. I took a sip of my coffee. "It's not the same _Prophet_, though, is it?"

"No. But, then again, not many things are the same," he replied, in a quiet voice.

There was silence in the room and then, Astoria said, in a high voice, "Well, well, it doesn't matter, dear. After all, it's only temporary. It's not like you'll be doing this for the rest of your life."

I shot her a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, naturally, once you settle down," she said, with a glance towards Scorpius, who was shaking his head at her. "I mean, well… you won't work, will you? Especially once you have children. I know your mother had the Quidditch column for years, but you should know that Malfoy women don't work after marriage. It's just not done in our family."

My mouth dropped open and I looked across the table at Scorpius, who looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole.

Before I could respond, he said, through gritted teeth, "Mother, we talked about this. Lily and I are not -."

She waved her hand and answered quickly, with a smile, "Of course not, dear. I know that you young kids like to take your time with these things and it's even normal for people to move in together before-hand. But, you know, I think it's important we don't pretend. After all, you are set to inherit everything one day, and I want Lily to appreciate what that means and -."

Scorpius shot his father a look and his father immediately said, "Astoria, love. I know you're excited that Scorpius has brought a girl home, but perhaps we should hold off on planning their wedding?" Draco shot me a wry smile. "Let's let Lily eat her dessert in peace."

"Actually, why don't I take her on a tour?" Scorpius suggested, hastily, as he stood up. "She hasn't seen the rest of the house." He hurried around the table and helped me out of my chair.

Then, he apparated me out of the room. When the room stopped spinning a bit, I looked around saw that we were in a spacious bedroom. There was a Slytherin wall hanging on one wall, and a collection of photographs on his desk. Leaning in closer, I saw the some photos had Albus in them, and others had various people from Hogwarts. One photo was much newer and was of his team at the Auror office. He had his arm around Elaina, his partner, in the picture and they were both grinning at each other, while laughing at something Ryder had just said.

"This is your room." I looked around and commented, "It's about four times the size of mine at the Hollow."

"I've never been in your room at the Hollow so I'll take your word for it," Scorpius responded, in a light tone.

Casting a sharp look in his direction, I said, "Why does your mother seem to think we're about to get married?"

Scorpius let out a sigh. "I knew you'd make a fuss about this. Look, my mother doesn't think we're about to get married. She thinks we will – eventually – get married, and she's a person who likes to plan. That's all."

"I'm not seeing much of a difference, Malfoy," I answered, dryly.

"There is, trust me."

"Does she realize," I started, "that I'm only eighteen? And you're twenty?"

Scorpius shrugged negligently. "Does that mean much in the Wizard world? Your parents married at twenty. My parents married when my father was twenty-one. Your brother, Albus, just proposed to his girlfriend. And Albus is my age."

I thought back to Jemma's comments about Hogwarts statistics. "Uh… well… true. But, still. I'm not ready and I really don't want to be thinking about it."

"I'll make a note of it," Scorpius said, with a light smile. "I'll write it down: don't propose to Lily for at least a decade."

Letting out a reluctant laugh, I picked up a small glass figurine of a dragon and began to run my fingers along the sharp edge of its tail. The figurine snapped at my fingers, so I put it back down. "What did she mean that you're set to inherit everything?" I asked, curiously, sitting on his bed and curling my feet up under me.

He gave me an odd look. "It means exactly that. I'm the only child of an only child. I'm the last Malfoy, actually. So, I inherit everything. It's fairly obvious."

"What are you going to do with it?" My heart was starting to hammer in my chest and I could already tell I wasn't going to like his answer. "I mean, based on the way your father was talking, it seems like there's a lot to this heir business. So, how do you plan to take over for your father when you're an Auror?"

Scorpius stared at me for a moment and then let out a dry laugh. He sat down on one of the arm-chairs in his room, and said, "I'll figure it out." He raked one hand through his hair, messing it up even more. "Not that I'll have to for quite a while, yet. My father's health is in excellent condition."

"Has it all been a lie, then?" I asked him, quietly. "Being an Auror? Coming to my family's house all those times throughout the years? This entire time, I thought it was because you didn't want to be a Malfoy. Because you were unhappy here. But, instead, you were perfectly fine. Living in this mansion, with your house elves and your doting parents."

Scorpius looked confused. And a little annoyed. "I don't even know what that means. I used to go to your family's house, because it was fun. Sure, my parents love me and I love them. But it's lonely being an only child. Your family… your house… there was always commotion about. So, in the beginning, I just liked having friends my own age around. Then," he hesitated and looked across at me. "Later, I liked going to your house, so I could see you. Not that you ever paid attention to me," he added, with a frown. "You were always in your own world."

I didn't say anything in defense of that, because it was true to a certain extent. As I was growing up, I had trained myself not to get involved with James' and Albus's friends, because they really hated it. And, so, I always brought my own friends home for the holidays and made it a point to avoid the boys. I'd never been like Rose, who accepted their derision as a challenge, and then butt her way in until they allowed her to play.

"I don't know what you expected, Lily." Scorpius let out a sigh. "My parents aren't like your parents, but I love them. Why would you think I didn't? Just because the name Malfoy makes people…." Scorpius stopped and then finished, "I think my father has paid for the mistakes he made as a young boy. My grandfather died in Azkaban for his sins. My grandmother almost went mad, and died a shell of a woman. When I decided to become an Auror, I thought my parents would be against it and try to stop me. But, instead, they decided to support me and told me not to worry about the family business."

"That's because they're waiting you out," I exclaimed. I couldn't believe he could be that oblivious. "Your dad just spent over two hours talking to you about the family business. He's grooming you to be his replacement."

"Grooming me?" Scorpius gave me a odd look. "Are you even listening to yourself? Do you know how mad that is? My father is not some nefarious schemer who…."

"Sure he is," I cut in. "It's perfect. They're going along with your plans and then, eventually, they think you'll come to your senses."

"Lily." Scorpius shook his head. "Did the thought ever occur to you that they're supportive just because? If your parents can be that way, then why can't mine?"

"Because…." I stopped.

"Yes?" Scorpius prompted. When I didn't complete my thought, he scowled. "Because we're Malfoys." He paused and gave me an indefinable look. "Is this why you won't tell your family we're dating? Because you're ashamed to be dating a Malfoy?"

"No, of course not!" I exclaimed. "I've never held you being a Malfoy against you. You know that."

"That's lovely. I've never held you being a Potter against _you_," he shot back.

I took a deep breath. "That's not what I meant. It came out wrong. I told you my reasons for keeping it from my family. It has nothing to do with you."

"Actually, Lily, I think it came out exactly right." An arrogant and haughty mask seemed to shadow his face. "You can't set aside the way people still look at us. You're afraid of what people will think when they know that Harry Potter's daughter is dating the Malfoy boy. Apparently, I'm good enough to be _friends_ with, but romance is a whole other situation?"

The blood rushed from my face and I leapt to my feet. "How dare you say that? I don't think like that. I could care less that I'm Harry Potter's daughter."

"Whatever you have to tell yourself, Lily." He stood up, too, and said, rather abruptly, "I'll take you back to the broom storage. We should go."

I wanted to argue, to stop him, but I saw the implacable expression on his face. So, I just responded, in a dull voice, "All right. Let's go."

A few minutes later, as I flew away from the estate, I realized that I wouldn't be revealing to my entire family that Scorp and I were dating at Teddy's wedding, after all. Because it looked like we'd just broken up.

_The third time I…._

**TBC….**

_A/N: This is a departure, I know. I usually do three things. But this chapter was LOOONNGG, so I decided you all would rather have an update sooner, as opposed to waiting for me to finish all parts. So, "the third time I slept" will be in the next installment. If you want to read it, you know what to do: reviewing gives me the warm & fuzzies and that leads to me writing faster…. _


	6. Scorpius's Interlude I

_A/N: Again, thank you to every single person who is reading this story & a special thank you to those who are reviewing! This "interlude" is a departure. It's from Scorpius's POV & tells his side of the story up to the point where we are at with Lily/Scorp. The interlude should be no more than two parts. _

**xxxxx**

I didn't mean to fall in love with her. It just happened. But it wasn't one of those sorts of things where you look over at a girl and then feel like you've been hit by on the head by a bag of dragon eggs. That's how Albus described how he felt the first time he noticed Sabena. That someone had just taken a bludger to his face, so he was completely thrown off, but he didn't feel any pain because she just made it go away. (My friend's quite a romantic; I've always been unsure where he gets it from, because neither of his two siblings have a romantic bone in their body.)

No, for me, the process of falling in love was much slower than that. There was no music or cupids wandering about with arrows. Instead, it was a slow, gradual burn that burst into a full flame when I least expected or wanted it. (Fancy that, apparently I can be quite romantic when I want to be, as well.)

**xxx**

The first time I met Lily Luna Potter, I was a lonely, miserable eleven year-old. Or, rather, I was starting to stop being a lonely, miserable eleven-year old.

My parents had doted on me every second of my life. I was the only child of a very rich family. I had private tutors from the time I could talk (no Muggle public schooling for me) and my family catered to my every whim. But, the one thing I had never had was friends. As I was growing up, my parents' socializing was very limited to the various charities my mother participated in; if they had friends with children my age, I certainly never met them. So, I was excited and anxious to begin my schooling at Hogwarts, where I imagined room after room of potential friends.

Reality was quite different from my imaginings. The night before I was to leave for Hogwarts, my father called me into his study and had a frank, uncomfortable talk with me. The gist of it was: he and my grandfather had made some bad decisions almost two decades ago. And, for that reason, my father was fairly certain that I would have a rough time of it at Hogwarts. Try as I might, I couldn't get him to provide many details, but his words were enough to throw a bucket of icy cold water on my excitement.

The next morning, when I was walking towards Hogwarts Express, I saw several people pointing towards my parents and whispering to each other. One much older woman (probably about my grandmother's age) walked past us, hissing under her breath, "Death Eater scum."

My father turned pale and ushered my mother and me towards the train. I hesitated. Even though I'd been waiting for this moment my entire life, I was miserable. I was scared of leaving my family and the hostile stares of the people around us weren't helping.

I heard a man down the way make a comment in a loud voice that carried. Something about how he expected his daughter to beat me at every test. I panicked even more. Then, I felt a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I looked up at my mother, who was smiling down at me and she said, "You'll be fine. Just find that one friend, sweetheart. And the rest will just follow."

With tears in my eyes (that I tried to bravely hide, since I was a boy), I whispered, "But what if no one likes me?"

With a fierce hug, my mother said, "Oh, they will. No one can resist you, my darling."

After I'd boarded the train, I learned that my mother was wrong. Every compartment I tried to get on, the students blocked the way as soon as they learned my name and said, coolly, "The seats are all full."

Finally, I came across a noisy and full compartment and I thought that if I could just slip in, maybe no one would notice me. The plan worked for about five minutes.

"Rose, I honestly don't know why you're practicing ALREADY," a black-haired boy said to a girl who had bushy red hair. "It's not like they're going to quiz you the moment you enter."

"My mother," the girl began, in a haughty voice, "says it's never too soon to begin practicing with the wand. Helps you learn to control it better."

Another red-haired girl, this one kind of plump, with curly ringlets, said, in a prim voice, "Rosie, your mother is right, but it's not safe for you to practice. You haven't even had one lesson, yet!"

Another black haired boy, who looked remarkably like the first one, but a little more serious, started laughing. "Molly, what's the worst she can do? Nothing we haven't survived at the Burrow, yeah?"

Everyone started laughing at that, but I didn't get the joke.

I took a quick survey of the other people in the compartment. There were two other girls there, one was older and very pretty, with strawberry blonde hair and she was lost in a book. The other girl looked a lot like the plump, curly haired girl and she was staring out the window, looking a little wistful. I knew how she felt.

Then, the door opened and a boy, quite a few years older, walked in. He was tall and gangly, with dark skin and reddish-black hair cropped close to his head. His eyes were a startling blue, and he wore a prefect badge.

"What's going on here?" He looked at the girl they called Rose and said, "You hanging in, Rosie? James' isn't scaring you or anything, is he?" He glanced at the older black-haired boy, who scowled back at him.

"Just because you're a prefect, _Freddie, _does not mean that you have to -." James suddenly stopped talking, even though his mouth was opening, no words were coming out.

The boy, Freddie, looked amused and I saw that his wand was out, and pointed towards James. "Yes, please continue. I'm sorry," he put his hand to his ear, "Didn't quite catch that."

The boy named James just glared at him.

Freddie said, briskly, "All right, now, I don't need to remind you that this is Molly, Lucy, and Rose's first year. We are not," he gave James a stern look, "I repeat, NOT to make it harder for them. Understood?"

The black-haired boy who was sitting closest to me pointed out, "Oi, Fred. It's my first year, too."

"Yeah, Al, but you can take care of yourself, right?" Fred responded, with a bit of a grin.

At that, the girl named Rose got a defiant look in her eyes and she stood up. "Fred Weasley! Just because we're girls doesn't mean we can't take care of ourselves." She turned to the other girls who were looking at her anxiously. "Right, Molly? Right, Lucy?"

One of them shook her head. "Speak for yourself, Rose." She looked towards Fred and said, "Feel free to look out for me, Fred. I hope I'm sorted into Gryffindor."

Fred winked at her. "You will be. No Weasley hasn't, up to this point."

Rose sat down again with a huff. "I honestly don't see what the big deal is. I'd rather be sorted into Ravenclaw." I almost asked her why, but one of her seat mates beat me to it. Rose explained, "Because they take their studies more seriously. And," she directed a glare towards James, "I might actually get a chance to play for the Quidditch team. Fat chance of that happening in Gryffindor, with all the cousins milling about."

"Gryffindor will let you play, Rose," the girl behind the book said, unexpectedly. She put the book away and looked towards the younger girl with a smile. "I've seen you play. They'd be lucky to have you." Then, she glanced up at Fred and said, "Bad sport using the silencing spell on poor James. He's only a second year, Fred." She pulled out her own wand and waved it towards James who immediately gagged and let out an odd noise.

"Dom, you are much too nice for your own good," Fred answered, with a disgruntled expression.

"I think I want to be in Slytherin," the younger black-haired boy said, unexpectedly.

There was silence in the compartment for a second and then everyone started talking at one.

Fred said, "I take it back, Al. You can't take care of yourself. What's wrong with you?"

The boy crossed his arms and got a stubborn look on his face. "Nothing. It's just that… if every Weasley has always been in Gryffindor, then why would I want to be in it?" He shot a look towards the other boy, who I guessed was his brother, "I want to be different."

James shot him a disgusted look. "Suit yourself. Make the Potters proud, Al." Then, he stood up and said, "I'm done. I promised Mum I'd sit with you, but I didn't promise the entire way. I'm off to find my friends now."

He pushed past Fred and disappeared from view. Then, rather unexpectedly, Fred sat across from me. "So, should we keep pretending you don't exist? Or are you going to introduce yourself, mate?"

All the eyes were on me, waiting for my answer. "Um… er… I'm Scorpius Malfoy. I'm a first year."

The boy next to me shifted to face in my direction. "I'm Albus Potter." He held out his hand and I shook it.

Then, they all started introducing themselves. "I'm Rose Weasley." "I'm Molly Weasley, and this is my twin, Lucy." "I'm Dominique Weasley, I'm a fifth year." "I'm Fred Weasley, sixth year."

I nodded at each of them and, after hearing their names, realized that they were all related to each other somehow. Which shouldn't have been surprising, I suppose.

Dominique stood up and said to Fred, "Come on, Fred. Let's let the first years have their privacy. I promised Uncle Percy I'd look out for Molly and Lucy, but I think they're fine." She gave the two twins a kind smile. "All right? You know where to find me if you need something."

Fred looked he was about to protest, but she fixed him with a look. And so he complied.

After they'd left, we were all quiet for a few moments. Then, Rose turned to me with a speculative look in her eyes. "Malfoy, huh? I read about your father and grandfather in "Hogwarts, A History". My mother helped edit the latest edition, you know."

I didn't know that and wasn't even sure I understood what it meant, but I just said, "That's… um… impressive."

Albus snorted next to him, his shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

Rose ignored him. "Yes, well, it seems your family did some fairly terrible things during the Second Wizarding War."

I knew my grandfather had died in Azkaban, a wizard's prison, but no one had ever given me the details of why. I had a feeling Rose Weasley was just about to tell me why. My hands clenched, as I imagined the horrible things she was about to say and how it would lead to them kicking me out of the compartment.

"Yes, well, I won't hold it against you," she announced, in a decisive tone. "In fact, I think we should be friends."

Utterly bemused, I just blinked at her. Before I could say anything, Albus jumped in, "Did the thought occur to you that he might not want to be your friend?"

Rose looked like the thought, in fact, had not occurred to her. "Why not?"

"Because you're weird," he answered, with a bit of a scowl. "And you're a GIRL."

Sniffing loudly, Rose jumped to her feet and turned to her other cousins. "Come on, girls. Let's go somewhere where we can be APPRECIATED."

Molly and Lucy looked towards each other, and must have decided that it was easier to follow Rose than it was to argue with her. Once they'd left, I looked towards Al and said, "Uh… thank you."

He shrugged. "Don't mention it." Then he gave me an odd look. "I'm surprised you came into our compartment, though. I mean, you know who I am, right?"

When he'd said the name Potter, I'd figured he might be related to Harry Potter, so I said, "Are you related to Harry Potter? My tutors taught me about him when we went over the Second Wizarding War."

Albus looked a little taken aback by that. But all he said was, "Yeah, he's my Dad, mate." Then he looked around and stood up. A bit awkwardly, he said, "Well, I better go hunt down my brother. He's got my money bag. Good luck, Malfoy."

After he'd left, the compartment – which had been full of laughing kids just moments before – was utterly empty. And I'd never felt more lonely in my life.

**xxx**

The first few weeks at Hogwarts were torture. The sorting hat had put me into Slytherin almost immediately, and – amazingly enough – Albus was also sorted into Slytherin. Remembering my mother's words about finding a friend, I tried to follow her advice. But it was difficult.

Most first years treated me like I had vile, contagious disease. A few of the older Slytherins attempted to befriend me, but I soon realized that they were bullies and I didn't want to get involved with them. The sorts of things they said and did disgusted me, so I preferred being alone to being with them. Rose Weasley, true to her word, did go out of her way to talk to me, but she'd been sorted into Gryffindor and we didn't see each other much. And she was actually quite popular, so she didn't really need to seek me out as much as I needed to seek her out.

On top of everything else, I was routinely the victim of pranks and jokes. One night, I went to bed to find that someone had filled my pillow with hard-boiled doxy's eggs. Another day, all my uniforms went missing and I had to go to class wearing regular clothes. They docked Slytherin five points because of it, and that made my classmates – not just the ones in on the prank – hate me even more. My homework was constantly going missing and I'd had to replace my books more than once, because they kept showing up ripped and torn. I'd owl home and ask for replacements, and my parents would just send them to me, without any questions as to why they had to replace my Potions book four times. I guessed they'd figured it out, even though I didn't tell them.

Then, one day, I was in Potions class and I pulled out the essay that we needed to submit that day and found out, to my dismay, that the entire parchment was blank. Even though I was boy, it was almost impossible to hold back my tears. I'd spent hours on the essay the entire week.

When Professor Chang asked us to pass our parchments up, I raised my hand slowly. "Professor? I… my essay…." I looked down at my feet. I didn't know what to say. If I told her the truth, then everyone would hate me more for being a tattle-tale. "I don't have it."

Professor Chang turned to look at me slowly. With an icy tone, she said, "Mr. Malfoy. This is the fourth time you haven't had your homework to turn in. What do you think? I just give out marks because you're kind enough to grace us with your presence? That'll be twenty points from Slytherin and a failing grade for you."

Trying to blink back the tears, I stared down at my desk and nodded silently.

Suddenly, someone said, "Er… Professor Chang? It's actually my fault."

My head snapped his direction and I saw that Albus Potter had stood up.

Looking a bit disconcerted, Professor Chang frowned. "Albus? How is it your fault?"

"You see," Albus started, with a disarming grin, "I was practicing a few charms for Charms class? And, unfortunately, I was too close to Scorpius's essay. I accidentally sc_rougified_ it. His entire essay was finished and when I figured it out… I… well…" Albus looked down at his desk, looking incredibly apologetic and mournful, "I just put it back in his bag, because I hoped he wouldn't figure out it was me."

Professor Chang stared at him for a moment. "That's highly disappointing, Albus. You should have told him."

"I know, Professor." Albus nodded. He turned to me. "Sorry, Scorpius."

"It's… it's okay," I said to him, weakly.

"Well," Professor Chang sniffed and said, "Albus, I'll still be docking Slytherin twenty points for your behavior. You, young man," Professor Chang said to me, "will be turning in the essay to me by tomorrow night. Understood?"

We both nodded and then she continued on with the class. Afterwards, I caught up to him and said, "Thank you. For that… I…." My eyes downcast, I just said, again, "Thanks."

Albus frowned. "It's my fault, mate. I saw the boys doing it; should have stopped them." He then smiled. "Listen, I'm heading down to the Great Hall. You coming?"

With a grateful nod, I followed him. I wasn't sure how - or why – but, at that moment, Albus became that first friend my mother had told me about. And, sure enough, the rest soon followed. After all, Albus was a Potter and no one wanted to get on the bad side of one of the Potter boys.

That all led to the moment when I first met Lily. I'd been invited to Albus's house for Christmas and managed to convince my parents to let me go. And when I arrived at their kitchen, a little girl came bounding into the room. Her hair was a bright color – the color the flames in the fireplace, actually. Orange, red, yellow, gold. Her big eyes got bigger when she saw me and she hid behind her mother's skirt. I thought she was a funny little thing, and then promptly forgot about her in the excitement of being somewhere for Christmas where there were other kids about and some of them were even my friends.

**xxx**

The next year, I was invited back for Christmas and I saw her about. Since I was a second year, I didn't notice her much and, when I did see her, her nose was either buried in a book or she was scribbling away in a journal she carried with her everywhere. It seemed clear to me that she was a very shy girl. James and Albus ignored her, for the most part, so I did, too. And it was easy, because she wasn't even at Hogwarts, yet.

She surprised me, though, during the Christmas dinner. My cousin (a few times removed, I think) was visiting and there was apparently no love lost between him and me. He had already said some rather nasty things to me during his time at Godric's Hollow, and had told me things about my family that I wished I could unlearn. So, he loathed me and I returned the feelings rather whole-heartedly. Then, at dinner, he flat out called me a dirty name. Rather, he called my mother a dirty name.

While all the adults scrambled to get control of the situation, a small voice came out of nowhere and defended me. Every adult stopped to look at Lily, who was looking back at everyone with those big, brown eyes that seemed to say: _Will everyone just calm down and eat? What's wrong with you people? _

Her words, tone, and look had the desired effect. Soon, everyone was settling back to the dinner. I couldn't help, though, but want to leave. To go home. I wasn't wanted here. It wasn't my place. When my eyes landed on Lily, she shot me a quick grin. And then held up her bottle of butterbeer and took an exaggerated gulp, as if to say, "Bottom's up, mate." I couldn't help but laugh at her antics and she winked at me, turning her attention back to her plate.

When I turned back to focus on what Albus was saying, my heart was a lot lighter, and I realized I'd misjudged her. It wasn't that she was shy. She just didn't feel the need to speak unless there was something worth saying.

**xxx**

The first time we had an actual conversation was when she was in her first year of Hogwarts. She was hiding under a staircase, crying because no one liked her. When I found her, she was ready to dump everything on me. I didn't flatter myself that it was because it was me. More than likely, she would have poured out all her feelings to any sympathetic ear, as long as it wasn't one of her brothers or cousins.

I attempted to figure out what to do with a crying girl, not having much experience with either crying people or girls, for that matter. After she got herself under control, I ended up just giving her the same advice my mother had given me. When she asked me the same question I'd once asked my mother, I couldn't help but say, in all honesty, I believed that anyone would like her. She was, after all, a likable person. I didn't know her well, but I knew enough to know that.

Lily appeared to take my advice. She found a first year, Jemma, who had come from the States and was probably lonely herself. Soon, the two were inseparable and their group of two grew to include several other girls. I watched her come out of shell and saw that I had been right. She was incredibly likable.

Lily was funny, quick-tongued, and a little mischievous, while, at the same time, being a little unassuming. She was warm and friendly, even if she wasn't the most popular girl in her class. More than once, I saw her go out of the way to be nice to those kids that didn't have many friends, regardless of which House they were in or which year.

Her cousin, Rose, who was also known for being intelligent and well read, would flaunt her intelligence; Lily, on the other hand, had a quiet way about her, where she seemed to tamp down on her intellect. It would come out in the way she'd talk or joke, a dry and witty comment here and there. It wasn't obvious and flashy. She was smarter than most everyone in her family, but she never talked about it. In fact, she seemed to be convinced she wasn't smart enough for Ravenclaw and seemed to attack her books with almost a religious zeal to prove herself worthy.

Unlike Albus and James, she didn't take her grades for granted and had no interest in playing Quidditch or even watching it, for that matter. While James and Albus were both incredibly popular, she had the same small group of friends she'd had since her first month at school, and she didn't seem to yearn for it to be any more. That earned her quite a bit of unfavorable comparisons with Rose, who not only excelled in her studies, but was a very popular Quidditch chaser. Lily, for her part, seemed unperturbed by the comparisons and just continued her merry way.

I found her to be quite fascinating and an interesting contradiction. But I didn't get to know her all that well, because she was a couple of years younger than me, and so we didn't share any classes. And, in my third year, I went back to Malfoy Manor for Christmas because I felt bad about abandoning my parents every year. The Potters invited me over for Easter holidays, and I accepted. But I spent no time with Lily, since she'd invited Jemma over, and there was no reason for Albus and I to be spending our time with two first year girls.

**xxx**

In my fourth year, my grandmother passed away during Christmas holidays, so I didn't go to the Potters for the break. Albus, again, invited me for Easter and I jumped at the chance. When I was getting set to go, Rose came up to me and told me that she was also staying with the Potters for Easter.

Rose smiled as she told me this, and her blue eyes lit up in a mischievous way. Suddenly, I realized why all the boys in Slytherin were always going on and on about her and how hot she was. Up to that point, she'd basically been a good friend. I saw her in much the same way I saw Albus. A girl who had befriended me at a time when I needed friends.

Rose, of course, was more than just a girl. Like I said, she was very popular – not just with the girls, but also boys. Rose was the sort of fearless person who never took 'no' for an answer and seemed to believe that every time someone told her she couldn't do something that it was a essentially a challenge for her to prove them wrong. Rose was domineering, overbearing, and could be quite a know-it-all. But, at the same time, she was funny and sarcastic, and had a way about her that made people just seem to gravitate towards her. All in all, I was fairly grateful she'd decided – long ago – to be my friend, because being Rose Weasley's enemy was never good.

This all led to the moment when I was standing in the Potters' guest room and opening the wardrobe to see if I could find some spare linens. Rose came rushing in.

"Oh, there you are," she exclaimed. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

I frowned in confusion. "You have? Mrs. Potter told me I needed to come in here and help Lily change the linens." I glanced around and shrugged. "And there's no Lily or spare linens."

Rose rolled her eyes. "It's not a big deal. It's my parents staying in this room. They can change their own linens."

I really didn't think Mrs. Potter was going to look at it that way, but I kept silent.

Rose walked towards me, slowly, and I grinned at her. "What's up, Red?"

She stopped right in front of me and said, "Scorp, are you going with anyone?"

"Going?" I looked down at her stupidly. "Going where?"

Rose let out a frustrated sound. "Oh, good Merlin. I mean, are you going OUT with anyone?"

"Out? As in a girlfriend?" I looked down at her suspiciously. "No. And why are you asking? Did James put you up to this?"

"No!" Rose rolled her eyes again. "Listen," she grasped my hand and pulled me towards the bed. When we both settled on it, she faced me and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. A random thought flittered through my mind that her cousin, Lily, always did the same thing. "I've been thinking about it and I think we should take our friendship to the next level."

I stared at her for a moment and then burst out laughing. "What?"

Rose looked a little hurt and offended. "I don't know why you think that's funny. I've been told I'm rather good looking, you know. And a lot of guys have already asked me. And half the school thinks we're together, anyway."

"They do?" Suddenly, a few of the comments the blokes in Gryffindor and Slytherin had made to me started to make more sense. "Well, I suppose…." I sat back and looked at her critically. There was no denying she was incredibly pretty, with her long and wavy hair cascading about her and the bright blue eyes. Her legs were long, and she had a very slender figure, although she was lacking a little in the chest area. But I wasn't shallow enough to base my judgments solely on that. After all, she was my friend, and I liked her well enough. "Sure," I said, finally. "But what does that mean, exactly?"

"Well, to start with," she answered, slowly, as she inched closer to me. "We should kiss. To, you know, make sure we have the right chemistry."

I was rapidly starting to like the sound of this girlfriend business. "All right. When should we -?"

Rose cut me off as she moved in closer to press her lips against mine. It was a little clumsy, but her arms managed to find their way around my neck and she was sinking her fingers into my hair. It felt nice, and I automatically shifted, trying to deepen the kiss as well as I knew how. I had just put my hands on her back to bring her in closer when I heard the door open and someone let out a shriek. "Good Godric Gryffindor, what the hell are you two doing?"

Rose and I immediately broke apart. I looked towards to the door and nearly groaned. It was Lily.

Jumping up, Rose ran towards Lily and started to push her out the door. "Get out, Lily."

"All right, all right," she said, as Rose shoved her out, rather forcefully, and then shut the door in her face.

Rose and I stared at each other for a moment and then we both burst out laughing.

"So, um…." Rose looked at me with an uncertain look. "Do you… do you think we have chemistry?" She appeared to be holding her breath for my answer.

I cleared my throat and pretended to think about it. "I'm not sure. Perhaps we'll just have to keep practicing to find out."

Rose shot me a wicked grin. "Excellent suggestion." And she came over to me to attempt again.

**xxx**

Rose and I ended up being together only until the end of the term and through a little bit of the summer. By the time fifth year started up again, we both seemed to realize that we enjoyed snogging each other well enough – once we'd gotten the hang of it – but neither of us really felt an urgent need to take it any further. And she was incredibly busy, and so was I, and the time we spent apart in the summer hadn't really made us miss each other all that much. After a talk, we both decided we were better off as friends.

So, I turned my attention towards other girls in my year and began thinking about who I could be interested in. Albus, who up to that point had never shown any interest in the dozens of girls who followed him about, seemed to fixate on a girl named Sabena Kingston, who was a fifth year in Gryffindor. After a few 'accidental' meetings, he managed to summon up enough courage to ask her out. She immediately accepted and the two were joined at the hip since.

When Al kept telling me to just find a girl and do the same thing, I found that I didn't really see anyone in my year that interested me. There was Esmeralda Vane, a fifth year in Slytherin. She had dark eyes and dark hair, and she always burst into a frenzy of giggles whenever she saw me. She seemed nice enough, but the giggling drove me crazy.

Of course, there were girls in the other Houses. A girl named Erika Meadows. She was in Gryffindor and was a good friend of Rose's. When Rose and I had been together, we'd spent quite a bit of time together because of Rose. And I'd heard that she'd recently broken up with her own boyfriend, who was a Beater on the Ravenclaw team. But I didn't know what the proper etiquette was. Was I allowed to go out with someone who was a friend of Rose's? If not, then I had a bit of a problem, because Rose was friends with every fifth year in the school.

I still hadn't managed to find someone when Christmas holidays rolled around. Albus was going to have Christmas dinner at the Burrow that year, and he invited me to come along. After spending years hearing about the legendary get-togethers at the Burrow of the entire Weasley clan, I decided to join him to find out what it was like first-hand.

It was rather wonderful, if overwhelming. There were people of all ages and sizes running about and everyone's voice was set on the highest possible volume at all times. Al wasn't the only one who'd brought a friend with him. James had brought someone from Gryffindor, and Lily had brought Jemma. Rose and several of her cousins also had brought friends from Hogwarts, and the full house was near bursting even before the dinner began. And then Teddy showed up with his grandmother. When we saw each other, we just nodded stiffly and then ignored each other for the rest of the night. After his outburst years ago, we'd arrived at a sort of odd truce. His grandmother, Andromeda, had invited my parents over for tea several times, and my mother had apparently reciprocated by having them over for dinner.

When the time came to sit around the Christmas tree and exchange gifts, there was a general air of pandemonium in the air. People kept shouting things like, "Open mine first! Open my first! You can't miss it! It's the one from the Weasley TO the Weasley!" Even the adults all seemed to have devolved into children, and they kept teasing each other and bickering amongst themselves.

As time went on, everyone managed to make their way through the piles and piles of gifts. Even my pile was fairly large. Rose, Albus, James, Lily, and Mr. and Mrs. Potter had each gotten me something, probably because I was technically their guest.

Rose had gotten me a book, _Quidditch Through the Ages_ and written a note on the inside: _Study this hard. But Gryffindor will still kick your arse this year. Quidditch Cup is mine!_ James had gotten me a box of chocolate frogs, and Al had gotten me a new set of quills in silver and green that was in a box with the Slytherin seal on it. Mr. and Mrs. Potter had gotten me a nice black jumper that also had the Slytherin seal on it.

Lily's present was a lot smaller and when I unwrapped it, I saw that it was a small book called _Wizard's Guide to Making Friends_. With a confused frown, I opened the book, and a note fell out, along with another small colored paper. I unfolded the note first and read it silently to myself.

_Dear Scorp, _

_Sorry, I couldn't resist. When Mum told us we needed to get you a Christmas present, I had no clue what to get you. Somehow, I just felt you didn't need another thing with the Slytherin seal on it. (How much green and silver can one own, anyway? I mean, honestly, I wouldn't to go through life with all blue and bronze in MY closest.) _

_Anyway, I saw this and immediately thought of you. This is not a hint. I'm sure you have many friends and are incredibly happy with them. This is just my way of thanking you for taking the time to be nice to a scared and lonely first year a couple of years ago._

_And, because this is a gag gift, I'm also enclosing a gift certificate to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Tell them you're a Weasley when you pay for your items and you'll get 20% off. Don't worry about not being one; there's so many of us, the poor store clerks can't keep track. Since you've got blonde hair, you'll want to tell them you're one of Fleur's kids. _

_Happy holidays, Scorp! _

_Lily Luna Potter _

I picked up the colored paper and saw that it was, indeed, a gift certificate for her uncle's shop. With a grin, I turned to try to find her and saw that she was several feet away, opening her own presents. She looked up and, when our eyes met, I held up the book, and mouthed, "_Thank you_."

When she saw I'd open her gift, she winked and shot me a grin. And then turned her attention to the small velvet box she'd opened. "Oh, my… good Godric…" she exclaimed and jumped up. She turned towards her father, who was sitting nearby, watching her with an indulgent smile on his face. "DADDY! You got it for me!"

"Of course. With a hint THAT size, how could I not?" Her dad smiled and she jumped into his arms and gave him a big hug. He kissed her hair and patted her on the back.

"What is it?" Albus's aunt – Hermione, I think – asked curiously, as she served butterbeer to everyone.

"It's a necklace," Lily said, her brown eyes shining in excitement. "Made with real goblin's silver. In the shape of a lily!" She held up the delicate chain, where, indeed, there dangled a small pendant that was crafted in the shape of a lily. "I saw it at Diagon Alley a few months ago, but Mum said I was too young -."

"I still think you're too young," Lily's mother cut in, as she settled down next to Lily's father on the over-sized armchair. "But your father insisted." She shook her head in exasperation at Mr. Potter, "I swear, she could ask for the moon and you'd figure out a way to give it to her, wouldn't you?"

"Depends," her father answered, thoughtfully. "Would we have to give the moon room and board, or is there a place we could store it?"

Lily's mother let out a peal of laughter.

"Mum, can you put it on for me?" Lily asked, excitement threading her voice.

Her mother held up her bottle of butterbeer. "Hand's full, sweetheart." She indicated towards me, who was – apparently – the only person left in the vicinity. "Ask Scorpius to help you."

Lily turned and caught my eye. "All right." She came towards me, the necklace dangling from her fingers. "Come on, we should probably go to the kitchen, there's more light there. And the clasp's really tiny."

She practically skipped towards the kitchen and I followed, not wanting to be rude. When we got there, she turned her back towards me and handed me the necklace over her shoulder. As she swept up her hair, I fumbled with the clasp. She hadn't been kidding – it was tiny. After a few tries, I managed to unhook it and then I wrapped it around the front of her neck.

My fingers felt inordinately clumsy as I put the two pieces of silver back together. Her arms were up, as she tried to keep her hair from falling down over her shoulders. Suddenly, I was hyper-aware of everything around me.

The clock seemed to slow down and all I could focus on was the smooth column of her slender neck, and the pulse beating at the side. Her hair, all orange and red flames, smelled like flowers. It was apt, given her name. Her body was warm and I wanted, desperately, to move in closer, but I stopped myself.

But, since I topped her by about a foot, it gave me glimpse down the front of her blouse, which was cut low enough to suggest quite a bit of cleavage that could only be seen from my vantage point. My body, quickly catching up to what my eyes were looking at, immediately reacted, with my blood rushing to certain regions that immediately jumped to attention.

Quickly, I finished the necklace and jumped back, as though her skin were scalding hot. Before she could turn around, I pulled out one of the dining room chairs and sat down, hiding my lap under the table.

Lily smiled at me. "Thanks." She stroked the pendant gently and said, "You like it?"

I eyed her fingers warily and started to count to ten in my head. "Er… yes. Lovely." Closing my eyes, I started to give myself an internal lecture.

_She's only thirteen! You're fifteen! What, are you one of those pervs that gets off on leering at little girls? She's your best friend's sister! She's tiny! Okay, maybe her chest isn't tiny, but the REST of her is! Okay, don't think about her chest. Think about Albus. And James. And all of her male relatives. Think about Rose. That's it! Rose… you were with her. She caught you snogging Rose. Think about that. Think about…._

I felt a light touch on my shoulder and I opened my eyes. Lily was staring down at me with a concerned look in her brown eyes. "Are you quite all right?" She bit her bottom lip anxiously. "You look like you're in pain."

My eyes strayed down to her lips. Her very plump and pink lips. And I nearly groaned out loud. "No, I'm fine. I just need… a butterbeer." I was about to say, _I just need you to leave, thanks._ But I figured that might lead her to asking why.

Lily brightened. "Oh, I can do that. Hot or cold?"

"Cold. Most definitely cold."

She ran towards the icebox and took out a chilled butterbeer and handed it to me. I gulped it down in one swallow and tried to think about other cold things, like a snowy day at Hogwarts.

"So," she said, sitting down across the table from me and looking at me with a bright smile. "I wanted to thank you for the journal. I'd just finished up my last one, so it was perfect timing."

I nodded stiffly and tried not to notice how her she looked with her arms crossed in front of her, and the effect it was having on… various regions of her body, as it pulled her shirt down a bit lower. "That's great. Good."

Puzzled, she tilted her head and gazed at me with those big, brown eyes. Before she could say anything, a few of her cousins came running into the room. "Lils, snowball fight outside. Come on."

She jumped up, our conversation apparently forgotten, and ran after them. I stayed where I was for a while longer, for obvious reasons.

xxx

When we headed back to Hogwarts after the winter holidays, I made a resolution to find a girl – any girl – and get this weird pervy fixation I had on Lily Potter out of my system. I'd decided that it really came down to hormones. My time with Rose must have unlocked some primitive need in me to get going with a girl and Lily just happened to be standing about when that need manifested itself. It had nothing to do with Lily as a _person_.

So, with much determination, I hunted down Esmeralda Vane and asked her out. She was utterly delighted and turned into a giggling mess. Once she'd calmed down, we agreed that we'd spend the upcoming weekend at Hogsmeade together, and then went back to our respective portions of the Slytherin common room.

When the weekend rolled around, I'd almost forgotten that I'd asked her to spend it with me, but I found her waiting for me at the entrance of Hogwarts. The day was pleasant, even though Esmeralda had a tendency to be a bit silly and found every little thing giggle-worthy. I couldn't tell if it was because I made her nervous or she was just built that way. At the end of the day, I realized I probably needed to give her a good-night kiss and I so I just grabbed her and snogged her. It was the one time she wasn't giggly or nervous – in fact, she was quite bold and confident about it, and it didn't take me long to realize she had a lot more experience in this arena than I did.

We ended 'dating' (if one could use that word) for about three months. There were certain things I liked about being with her, aside from the physical. To begin with, she was in Slytherin, so there was none of the rivalry crap I'd had to go through with Rose. Secondly, it was great having her there when Albus and Sabena were in the process of making out. It used to be that I was the third fiddle with them, but now Esmeralda rounded things out nicely.

We ended up breaking up because Esmeralda found a pair of girls' knickers in my bag. I wasn't exactly sure how it got there, or even whose it was, but I was annoyed as all hell that she had been going through my bag and then had the audacity to accuse me of cheating. Later on, I learned that it belonged to Sabena and Al had put in my bag by mistake, thinking it was his. But the damage was already done, and I'd broken it off with Esmeralda. And I found that I wasn't feeling very bad about it.

About a month went by and then I decided I was feeling sick and tired about being surrounded by loving couples everywhere. I decided that honor be damned – I was going to ask out that Gryffindor girl that was a friend of Rose's. It turned out Erika had been interested in me, as well, and we both agreed that as long as Rose was all right with it, it was okay for us to go out. Rose gave her blessing almost immediately (after all, she was already dating some other bloke named Simon), so we started to go out.

Being with Erika was a relief after crazy Esmeralda. She not only was not prone to giggling fits, she seemed to be the sort of person who beat up girls who had giggling fits. She was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but she didn't take it as seriously as Rose had. All in all, things were quite pleasant with her and we had a good time together.

Unfortunately, the problem was that it was _too_ pleasant. There was no heat; there was no spark. Every time we tried to generate it, it never worked. While Esmeralda had been very passionate and quite experienced, I found that things were even clumsier and awkward with Erika than they had been with Rose. We never quite managed to get in the groove, and – after about a month – we decided to just be friends. After all, the school year was ending anyway.

**xxx**

I entered my sixth year convinced that long-term relationships were over-rated. Just because Albus seemed to have found his soul mate didn't mean that everyone did. So then, I adopted James' policy. I'd hang out with a group of girls and if someone caught my eye, we'd pursue our mutual attraction for an evening or two and then move on. No hard feelings; no emotions.

This continued for the first few months of my sixth year, but then I just got sick of it. I think it was around the time I asked out a girl that I'd slept with the night before and she gave me an odd look and said, "I can't. I have a boyfriend, remember?"

I, in fact, did not remember. "What? I didn't know that." I felt horrible. "You're cheating on your boyfriend?"

She shrugged. "It's not a big deal. He's not at Hogwarts. I mean, we just hooked up, right? It was a one night thing only."

It was then that I realized I wasn't cut out to be James. Maybe I wasn't an Albus, either, but I needed a lot more than just sex to have a relationship with a girl. And I definitely didn't want to be the reason a girl was cheating on her boyfriend.

So, that's how I came to be single when the school announced that they'd be hosting a Valentine's Day ball for fourth years and up. In a 'modern' twist, they'd made the rule that the girls would ask the boys.

I basically decided, almost immediately, that I wasn't going to attend. Or, if I did, I'd go alone. Some girls asked me, the first few days, but word quickly got out to the sixth and fifth years that I was turning all the girls down and so they stopped.

But, apparently, the fourth years hadn't gotten the notice. Because, one morning, little Lily Potter came up to my table and tapped me on shoulder. After leading me to an empty classroom, she looked me straight in the eyes and asked me out to the dance.

I wanted to die. I'd been avoiding her since that night at her grandparents' house. I was trying not to think about how she was now fourteen, which was a lot better, wasn't it? There was a monster in me that was convincing me that she fair game because she was asking ME out and not the other way around.

I told the monster to be quiet and adopted the most unemotional voice I could muster. "No. I won't."

She didn't seem to hear me. She started, "Oh, good, I…." Then, she must have realized what I said, because she stopped and said, "Wait… what?"

"I can't go to the dance with you," I said, in as succinct as a way possible. "Sorry."

She looked uncertain, confused and little flushed. "Did someone already ask you, then?"

"No," I answered. Then, I hesitated and told her the truth. "Well, some girls have asked, but I'm not going with anyone."

Lily frowned up at me. "Then, I don't understand. Why can't you just go with me?"

"It's…." I stared down at my shoes and then looked around the empty classroom, attempting to figure out how to say no without revealing that I didn't really trust myself around her. Because I'm apparently an old lecher who fancies little girls. "It's complicated."

"What does that mean?" Then, abruptly, she asked, "Is it because of Rose?"

My head snapped up and I met her concerned gaze with bemusement. "Rose? What do you mean?"

"Well, you two…." Lily's voice trailed off. "Are you still pining over her? Because, let me tell you, she's pretty happy with Simon."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. I hadn't thought of Rose like that in a long time "No. Of course not. I'm not pining over your cousin." I smiled at her. "Rose and I only went out for about six months, Lils. And we both mutually ended it."

"Well, then," Lily began, starting to look a little annoyed, "if you don't have another date and it's not about Rose, then what IS it?"

"Nothing. It's nothing," I replied, vaguely. After all, I couldn't really tell her the truth, could I?

"Am I that revolting?" Lily asked, her cheeks become a little pinker. "I mean, I know I'm not that much in the looks department, but I'm sure I'll look decent enough at the thing."

I stared at her for a long moment, wondering where she could come up with that from. I looked her over, assessing the flaming hair, and her bright, sparkling eyes. And the curvy figure that no fourteen year old girl should possibly be able to possess – she hid her body under baggy jumpers and her uniform most of the time, but any bloke with a half a brain could tell what was under there. With soft, creamy skin and pink, plump lips, she had the kind of beauty that could fuel a guy's fantasies for years. And I should know, because she'd featured in quite a bit of mine.

"Revolting? How in the name of Merlin's white beard could you possibly think you're revolting?" I realized I was being a little TOO emphatic, so I just said, "No. I don't think you're revolting. You're quite lovely. It's just that…."

"What?"

"I think you should ask someone your own age." Then, not trusting myself to not tell her how much I wanted to say 'yes', I turned away from her and started to head out the door. "Go with someone in your own year. I'm too old."

Lily, the annoying girl, actually followed me out the door. "I'm not asking for your hand in marriage, Scorpius. I mean, _honestly_."

With gritted teeth, I turned to face her, but I continued walking away, very quickly. "The answer is no, Lily. But good luck."

**xxx**

Later that night, I was in the Slytherin common room, attempting to get through a particularly nasty bit of Transfiguration homework. NEWTs were over a year away, but our teachers didn't seem to understand. I had more homework than ever before. And if I was serious about wanting to become an Auror, Albus's father had said I needed to score highly on my NEWTs.

"I can't believe it, Malfoy," Albus said, striding into the room. He dropped his bag on the nearest flat surface and plopped down in the chair next to mine. "Why'd you turn down my sister?"

"Eh… what?" Blinking in confusion, I lowered my wand, taking a break from practicing transfiguring a teacup into an alarm clock. I looked over at him. "I would have thought you'd be happy I turned down your sister."

"No, of course not." He made an impatient motion with his hand. "I'm the one who told her to ask you."

"You did?" Flabbergasted, I dropped my wand in surprise. I didn't know how to feel about that. On the one hand, I felt bad that Lily wasn't harboring a crush on me (as I'd been thinking all night), but – on the other hand – it was rather nice to think that Al wanted us to get together. Maybe I wasn't an old lecher, after all.

Albus dashed my hopes in an instant. "Yes, of course. You're the one bloke who won't try anything funny with her. I mean, you're my best mate."

"Ah… yes, of course." I bent down to pick up my wand, not meeting his gaze. "Naturally."

"But, now," he continued, looking annoyed, "she's going to go with some handsy guy from Gryffindor. I just know it. I've seen them eyeing her. Like she's some choice bit of meat."

I decided not to point out to him that I'd seen him rather handsy with Kingston quite a few times, so he wasn't really one to point fingers. Instead, I just said, "I'm sure she'll be fine. She'll ask a fourth year, and it's not like fourth years know what they're doing."

Al cast me a sideways look. "_You _dated Rose your fourth year."

"Fair point," I conceded, as I suddenly recalled many evenings spent 'practicing' snogging. I considered it and suggested, "There's a fourth year Hufflepuff, Hamish Prakinder. He owes me a favor – I once stopped a couple of Slytherin gits from beating the piss out of him. I could tell him to go with her and keep his hands to himself."

Albus nodded gratefully. "That's perfect."

Ultimately, it wasn't perfect. Lily figured it out almost immediately and then asked Lysander Scamander, a fifth year Gryffindor, out in front of the whole library. As she stalked off, she said to me, with her eyes blazing, "And he's a year older. So take THAT!"

Little did she know that most of my body was singing a happy chorus at the thought that she was willing to go out with someone older. In fact, I'd have been happy if she'd snogged MacMillan, the sixth year standing right next to me. It would have given me a reason to just haul her off and tell Albus that I was, in fact, well within my rights to act on my attraction to his sister.

I found out later that I actually probably would not have been okay with her snogging the ever living piss out a guy right in front of me. Because I happened to walk in on her doing that with Lysander. The bottle of pumpkin juice slipped from my hand, and as it broke into a thousand pieces, I heard a distant voice, like a monster in my chest, tell me that I should do the same to Lysander's face.

Instead, I just very civilly told him I wanted to talk to her. Although Lysander was a bit of a moron, he was smart enough to leave.

"What did you need to talk about?" Lily asked me, in an icy tone.

I looked down at Lily and tried to remember what I came to tell her, but I was finding it difficult to come up with the words. Mainly, because I couldn't tear my eyes from her dress.

James and Albus had mentioned something to me about how she was being indecent, but I hadn't seen her at the dance. Now, I knew what they were talking about. Her breasts, those creamy and delicate things, were threatening to spill out of her tight bodice, and the sheer green fabric of her gown revealed the shape of her legs. She wore sparkly make-up and her hair was done up in fancy sort of a way that emphasized her big eyes and long neck.

I saw she was wearing the pendant she'd gotten for Christmas a year back and I busied myself with cleaning up the mess I'd made, so that I could get control of my breathing. I thanked Merlin I was wearing loose dress robes.

Once I'd cleaned up the last of the pumpkin juice and couldn't use it as excuse anymore, I said to her, "I wanted to apologize."

"For what?" she asked me, with a raised brow.

"For the situation with Hamish." I looked down at the floor, because looking directly at her was proving difficult. "I shouldn't have done that. Gotten in the middle."

I was expecting her to rake me over the coals, or to make me grovel some more. Instead, she smiled and said, in a bright voice, "Oh, it's quite all right. It all worked out in the end. I think you were right, anyway. I was being a coward, going to you instead of really trying to find a real date. And it was a great evening." She paused and added, with a slight laugh, "Until you barged in on my first kiss, that is."

"That was your first kiss?" I couldn't help but laugh myself. And also feel a little relieved. "Turnabouts fair play, then. You walked in on _my_ first kiss."

She cocked her head to the side and looked at me with a frown. "With Rose? That was your first kiss? That's… surprising."

"Why?"

"I always thought you…" Lily blushed and smoothed down a portion of my dress. "I always figured you'd gone out with legions of girls and had tons of experience."

"Legions…?" I stared at her blankly, wondering where she got that from. The fact that she even cared enough to notice made that monster in me perk up in interest. I let out a laugh. "No. I'm not James, who has a different girl every week. Although," I added, just be sure I was truthful, "I guess I've gone out with more than Albus. To be honest, most guys don't start thinking about that stuff until their fourth year, and that's when Rose and I went out for six months. So, I wouldn't exactly use the word _legions_."

Nodding slightly, Lily turned her attention towards the door to her common room. And, apparently, she figured our conversation was over because she said, hastily, over her shoulder, "I accept your apology. Good night."

As I echoed the statement, I watched her hurry after her best friend. Shaking my head slightly, I went back towards my own common room and tried not to think about how my dreams were going to prominently feature a green dress that night.

TBC…

A/N: Sorry that this ended up being two parts. I know you guys want to know what happened with the cliff-hanger in "The First Time I Slept". But I do think that you'll enjoy "Interlude, Part Two" and then we'll go back to our regularly scheduled programming (which is Lily's POV).

_ohmyJonasHP, lilyscorpius, depp'sdarling, __xsetmefree__ , __, __TwilightObSeSiVe__, __Sweetshortkakes__, __teddyandlilyforever__: thank you for reading and I'm so happy you're enjoying the story! _

_Forever Optimistic__: Your first ever Next Gen? Thank you for your kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying it. My first ever Next Gen was "Delicate" and it's a Rose/Scorpius story. I'm still very much new to the HP ficwriting fandom, so I can't tell you how my stuff compares to others, but I want you to know that I really appreciate your comment. Thank you! _

_x8xdanix6x__: I know, it was confusing, right? The problem is that these chapters are getting WAY too long. So, I'm left with an option to either (a) shorten the chapters and leave out all the stuff in my head that I think readers will actually enjoy or (b) post every four/five days instead of every other day. I figured I'd try to do both – give frequent updates, while – at the same time – sharing the scenes I feel are important. _

_Dangme: I got into pottermore, too! I'm glowscarlet129. _

_Hushpuppy22: THANK you so much for your lovely and detailed feedback. This chapter is kind of because of you. LOL… I had Scorpius's story in the back of my mind and I had considered writing it down as a companion fic, but when I saw your questions, I decided I should go ahead and share it now. This "Interlude" should help address your confusion. _

_To answer your question about Jemma/James: Yes, Lily did light into him. She told him off many times And, no, they won't be getting back together. Jemma's off in the States and it's going to be many years before she's able to be in touch with Lily again, and that's when she invites Lily to her wedding. Lily turns down the invitation, but they do talk to each other at a Hogwarts reunion about ten years down the line, and they stay up most of the night reminiscing. Jemma apologies to her, but their friendship is, of course, never going to be the same. It is sad that Lily's friendship with her ended, but that happens in life._

_And, yes, James is an utter ass, isn't he? This is where he's coming from: he's the first son of a guy who is known the world over as a "rock god" (according to JKR). So, he's a bit of a pompous ass and is totally enjoying his status as a "rock god's son". And, so, he's a little selfish and self-absorbed. _


	7. Scorpius's Interlude II

_**A/N:**__ Sorry this took so long. (But it's 28 pages, so that has to count for SOMETHING, right?) Thanks, again, to everyone who took the time to leave a review. Sometimes, I wonder if anyone is even reading this thing or cares if it gets updated. So, your reviews make a HUGE difference and give me the motivation to keep typing out the story, instead of keeping it all in my head. And, this is random, but some people have asked me how I see the characters in my head. So, in case you're interested, there is a banner on this update at my LJ that shows how I see these characters. (My LJ link can be found on my profile page.) _

**xxx**

The first time I allowed myself to actually entertain the notion of asking Lily Potter out, it was – unfortunately – much too late.

After the evening of the Valentine's ball, Lily's popularity rose steadily. Suddenly, the entire male population of Hogwarts was chasing after her, as though her date with Lysander had been just what they'd been waiting for.

Certainly, I couldn't point fingers at them, because even I was thinking that if she was capable of snogging a fifth year in public, then it wasn't a huge leap for her to go ahead and snog a sixth year. Namely, me.

I didn't get a chance, though. Lily, for whatever reason, wasn't the least bit interested in dating anyone. Everyone assumed she and Lysander were going to become a couple, but they stayed clearly in the friends zone after the ball.

Fourth-year boys in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw began making excuses to talk to her and tried to work up enough courage to ask her out. The Slytherin fourth years and other Houses' fifth years just went for it. She went out a few dates here and there, but never went out with anyone more than once. Things weren't helped by the fact that she'd suddenly decided to start wearing more form fitting clothing, and even started doing her hair and make-up properly. She had barely looked like a fourteen year old before, but now she looked like a sixth year, at the very least.

Not that any of them were talking to me about it. Every once in awhile, I'd hear comments about "the little Potter girl" or what-not, but they quickly shut up once they saw me, probably because they knew I was a friend of Albus's.

But it didn't matter, because Albus and James were paying attention, and Albus would give me detailed rundowns in the Slytherin common room, while he paced back and forth and ranted about how misguided his parents were.

"Mum doesn't even get it! I swear, Lily has been spoiled since she was baby. The girl could Avada Kedavra someone's arse and my father would figure out a way to blame it on her wand!"

It was a familiar rant I'd heard for years (apparently, Lily being the only girl and the youngest to boot, was pampered and spoiled in ways that James and Albus considered wholly unfair). Not having any siblings of my own, I always just took Albus's word for it.

"But she's not doing anything, is she?" I asked him, in what I hoped came across as a _'I'm only mildly interested in this because you're my best mate'_ kind of a way and a not a _'I really need to know, because I want to be the one your sister's doing something with'_ kind of a way.

Albus scowled and sat down in the chair opposite of mine. "I have no idea. No, I don't think. I mean, I haven't caught her snogging in any dark corners or anything." Then, he became serious. "But it doesn't matter, though, does it? Because everyone thinks she is. When you're a girl, that's all that matters. Even if my Mum doesn't care she's a girl, it doesn't CHANGE that."

I cast him a sympathetic look. "Listen, I'm sure she'll settle down at some point." For obvious reasons, I didn't add _'hopefully with me'_. I didn't think Albus was ready to hear that yet.

Not that I was quite sure how to go about getting Lily to do that, truth be told. I had a moderate amount of experience with girls, but this was the first time I'd ever considered a girl who wasn't in my year. That made it so our paths very rarely overlapped, since we didn't have the same friends or the same classes.

And it was almost impossible to get her alone. Every once in a while, I'd manage to catch her coming out of the library (where she spent a considerable amount of time) or on her way to class. But the conversations would be very short, because she was invariably on her way somewhere or someone would join us within two minutes.

I decided that I would talk to her the next time I was at the Hollow, since no one was around. I figured that it gave me an advantage. So, when Albus and Lily planned a trip back to the Hollow for a weekend, I decided to join them. And, on Saturday afternoon, I followed her outside. I knew she loved to read near a fountain in a specific part of the small gardens surrounding the Potter's home at the Hollow.

When I got there (timing it so she got a ten minute head start), I pretended that I hadn't known she was there and apologized for intruding. Lily grinned up at me and put aside the book she'd been reading.

"It's no problem, Scorp." Lily glanced around the gardens and added, "I didn't know you came out here."

Lily was sitting on a stone bench, so I settled down on the edge of the fountain right in front of her. "Um… well, I don't come here often." I figured it wasn't exactly a lie.

With a nod, she looked at me expectantly, as though waiting for me to begin talking. And then I realized, with a start, that we never really spoke to each other much when we were at the Hollow. We spent a considerable amount of time in each other's orbit, but one on one? The instances were rare.

So, I blurted out the first thing that popped into my head. "So, Lils, how's your studying for the OWLs coming along?" Inwardly, I winced. Was that the best I could do?

Lily, though, sat up a bit straighter, her eyes brightening up. "It's going all right. I have to confess, I'm a bit concerned about the History of Magic exam." She indicated towards the book she'd just put aside. "I'm going over some extra reading, because I'm just convinced that 1921 incident in Muggle Chicago, and the impact it had on legislature regarding the sale of Wizard alcoholic beverages to Muggles, is going to be on it. But it's not in our textbook and Professor Binns didn't cover it in class."

"Er… what makes you think it'll be on the exam, then?"

"I've been practicing past exams," she explained, leaning forward slightly. "And the question was on the 1975, 1983, and 2000 exams."

I stared at her in amazement. "You went back all the way to 1975? I only practiced past OWLs back five years. And you're not even in fifth year, yet."

Suddenly, she looked a little embarrassed. "Um… yeah." She glanced down at her feet and then back up at me. "I reckon you think I'm a bit of a nerd?"

I actually did think that, but I didn't think that in a _mean_ way, so I just answered, "No, I don't think that."

Lily didn't look like she believed me. But she shrugged and said, briskly, "So, what are your plans, Scorp? My brother was saying you did fairly well in your OWLs. What subjects are you taking for your NEWTs?"

I gave her a list of the classes I was taking and she considered it for a second. Then, she frowned. "Those are the classes you're required to take to join the Auror Academy."

"Uh… yes, I suppose you're right." Flustered, I ran my hand along the edge of the fountain, avoiding her gaze. It was something I hadn't even discussed with Albus. My secret ambition to become an Auror.

"Well, have you talked to my father, then?" Lily asked, in a frank tone. "You should, you know. He helped design the training program at the Academy."

I had considered it, but didn't really think it was a good idea. No matter how many times I visited the Hollow, and how nice Mr. and Mrs. Potter were, I couldn't forget that I was a Malfoy. And that, if the stories were true, my father and Lily's father had detested each other in school. I'd asked him, once, in passing what it would take to become an Auror and he'd mentioned that one would need to score highly in their NEWTs and he'd listed the courses to take. But I hadn't yet had the courage to ask him about my own chances directly.

Lily must have sensed my hesitation, but she didn't press. Instead, she just asked, in a curious tone, "How do you parents feel about it? About you becoming an Auror."

I looked up at that. It was an odd question. With a frown, I asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean…." Lily's voice trailed off and then she said, "Rose's parents weren't happy when she wanted to be one. And my Uncle Ron actually IS an Auror."

Blinking a bit, I realized she meant the safety issue. Well, the truth was that my parents weren't exactly happy. They'd always assumed I'd take over for my father and become the head of Malfoy Industries. But once I'd explained that this was something I felt I had to do, my father had accepted it.

I hadn't revealed it even to my parents, but the reason I wanted to be an Auror so badly was because I was sick and tired of people seeing the name Malfoy and automatically getting a disgusted look in their eyes. I wanted the name to mean something good again. To be associated with good; not evil. Twenty years or however many years down the line, when I dropped my children off at King's Cross to go to Hogwarts for the first time, I didn't want them to hear the words 'Death Eater scum' even before they'd boarded the train. And I figured the best way to accomplish that was to fight the very Dark Arts that had been my family's downfall to begin with.

But I didn't say any of this to Lily. Instead, I forced a smile to my lips and said, smoothly, "My parents are my parents. Not much to say."

She looked confused for a second but then shrugged again. "Okay, then." But, she did ask, "Why do you want to be an Auror?"

"Why do you want to be a reporter?" I responded, turning the conversation back around to her.

Lily raised a brow. "How do you know I want to be a reporter?"

I started laughing. "Because you created the Hogwarts Gazette in your second year. You either had a social death wish, or you really like writing for newspapers."

Lily flushed. "I still think Hogwarts needs a school newspaper. It's the best way to get the news in one place."

"Yes, but the problem is that gossip it the only school news that students care about," I told her, with a grin. "And you wrote articles about things like study schedules and the importance of doing well in your OWLs."

Lily rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Don't remind me. Albus and James will NEVER let me live that one down."

"As well they shouldn't," I replied, in a light tone.

She laughed. And then stood up, picking up her book. "It's almost dinner time. We better head in. And I have to finish this book by tomorrow. See you around, Scorp."

With dismay, I realized she was right. I got up and started to follow her back in. "Wait, Lily!"

She turned to look back at me, but kept walking. "Yeah?"

"I… um… I wanted to…." I stopped awkwardly and cleared my throat. But before I could finish the thought, Albus came walking towards us.

"There you two are!" Albus scowled. "Hiding, are you? Mum's on a rampage. She's made me change the table settings twice!"

"That's probably because you did it wrong the first time," Lily told him. But she quickened her step and followed after him towards the kitchen.

Letting out a sigh of frustration, I shot Albus a dirty look.

He frowned in confusion and said, "What?"

Shaking my head, I just said, "Nothing. Come on, let's go help your mother."

**xxx**

Before I knew it, I was in seventh year and Lily was in fifth. I felt the clock ticking. I'd be leaving Hogwarts soon, and I wondered what it would mean if I left before telling her that I was interested in her. In fact, was it even right to tell her that? She'd never indicated that she saw me as anything beyond a friend of one of her brothers. Sure, she would talk to me happily enough, but she never sought me out. I'd had quite a few girls interested in me during my time at Hogwarts, and I had gotten to the point where I could tell when a girl wanted something more. And I couldn't help but feel that I didn't see that from Lily. So, a mixture of fear, confusion, and pride kept me from revealing my feelings.

It didn't help matters that she'd actually started dating someone seriously for about three months. A stupid git by the name of Aidan McCormick. He was in my year (ironically) and he was in Gryffindor. When I'd been in sixth year, I'd told myself I never wanted to be the reason that a girl cheated on her boyfriend, and I didn't want to break that rule for Lily.

But, then, Al found me in the Slytherin common room one day and he was fuming. Apparently, he'd just heard from a good friend of his that someone had written something about Lily in the boys' bathroom in Gryffindor House.

"You think McCormick did it?" I asked Albus as I pulled my wand out of my pocket and started to follow him out the door.

Albus frowned. "No. He didn't. But my friend said that he was in the bathroom when a few other guys showed it to McCormick and you know what the arsehole did? He laughed. And made some sort of a comment that made it seem like he agreed."

My grip tightened on my wand and I felt anger bubble up in me. "All right, then. Let's find the bastard and make sure he never laughs again."

Albus shot me a gratified look. "Thanks, Scorp. I mean, if James were here…. But, I guess, it wouldn't have happened if James were here. Obviously."

"Yeah, I know."

It took a while, but we managed to track McCormick to the Ravenclaw common room, where he was waiting for Lily to come down since they were going out on a date. One thing led to another, and Al and I ended up hexing him and punching him a bit. We probably could have used some particularly nasty hexes that we'd been practicing, but there was just something satisfying about breaking his nose the Muggle way.

Of course, Lily didn't seem to understand that we were defending her honor. Instead, she used a Shield charm to protect the damn bastard from us and then ran off to take care of the situation herself.

I was about to go after her when I looked down to see Albus lying crumpled against the wall. "You all right?"

Albus groaned and touched the back of his head. When he pulled his fingers away, I saw that there was blood on them. "Damn it. I always forget she's a stupidly brilliant witch."

I leaned down and helped him up. "Come on. Let's get you to the hospital wing, mate."

**xxx**

When I'd sorted Albus out, who needed to stay in the hospital wing overnight for observation, I headed towards the Gryffindor bathroom to clean it up. And found Lily there, with a friend of hers, and they were arguing about how to handle the situation.

After some resistance, I managed to get her to agree to let me just get it off for her, and her friend left us alone to go be on the lookout.

It took some concentration, but I managed to do the spell silently. Auror Potter had told me that I should practice silent spells whenever I could, because that was the best way to learn. When I was finished, I saw Lily staring at me with a mixture of anger and – if I wasn't mistaken – a hint of begrudging respect.

"Did you just do that entire spell silently? That's above N.E.W.T. levels."

She _was_ impressed. I hid a smile and said, modestly, "Just about N.E.W.T. levels, actually. But I've been practicing with your father."

"Oh, right, I see. Where's Albie?" Lily asked, making a show of looking around. "A little odd to see Twiddledee without Twiddledum."

I paused, having no clue what that meant. Who were these twiddle people? But it seemed like she expected me to know, so I just shrugged. "Your brother had to be taken to the hospital ward. He hit his head pretty hard when he got hit with your Shield charm."

"Oh." Lily considered that for a moment, and then her voice hardened again. "He deserves it. Unless you want to join him, I would suggest you stop butting into my life, as well."

With that, she started to head out the room, but I was sick and tired of her sweeping out of a conversation before it was finished. Not even realizing what I was doing, I beat her to it and stood in front of the exit, staring down at her in anger. "Why are you angry with ME? What did I do?"

"What did you DO?" Lily echoed, her brown eyes spitting fire. "Let me tell you something, Scorpius Malfoy, I do not need you or my brothers to fight for me. I am perfectly capable of doing it myself."

"I see that," I answered, coolly. My heart was pounding and I crossed my arms so I wouldn't be tempted to grab her and shake some sense into her. "Given this has been up here for two weeks and you've been snogging the living piss out of McCormick the entire time with absolutely no clue. You're doing a bang up job taking care of yourself, Lily."

"What do you care who I snog?" Lily answered, through gritted teeth. She crossed her own arms and glared up at me. "You're not my brother. And - in case you hadn't noticed - between my brothers, cousins, uncles, and even Teddy, I have PLENTY of over-protective male relatives. I'm not hurting for more. If you really feel the need to adopt a little sister, then I suggest you find yourself a little orphan girl!"

She made to move past me, but I grasped her arm and turned her back around to face me.

"Little sister?"

My jaw dropped as I stared down at her. She thought I looked at her like a little sister? I'd been lusting after this girl since she was thirteen years old and had, to my own embarrassment and shame, many mornings where I was forced to change the sheets because of dreams I'd had about her body the entire night, and she thought I saw her as a little sister? I'd been fighting my attraction to her, being the honorable prat that I was, for three years and – the entire time – she thought I was standing in line to be another one her of endless male relatives?

Letting out a soft sigh, I said, "I wish. Ah, Lily, I wish."

Which all led to the moment where I, in a hasty and clumsy way, grabbed her and snogged her senseless. My mouth descended on hers and I claimed her lips, swallowing her exclamation. Her taste was as heavenly as I'd imagined; she tasted like toothpaste. Her lips were soft and at first, she was utterly still. Then, amazingly, she melted against me and started kissing me back, all heat and passion.

My hands dropped to her tiny waist, and I deepened the kiss, matching her fervor with just as much urgency. She was molded against my body, and I felt my body responding. It was all I could do not to slide my hands down her bum and grind against her. After a long minute, I broke away, because I was suddenly aware that we were in the Gryffindor bathroom, for Salazar's sake, and groping her in a bathroom was not exactly how I pictured making my feelings known to her.

We were both silent and staring at each other, and then Lily stepped back, looking a little bewildered. "What was that for?"

Lily was flushed and her lips were swollen, her hair falling down around her face, coming undone from the loose ponytail it had been in earlier. She looked like she'd been thoroughly kissed and it made me want to grab her and mess up the rest of her hair.

Instead, I closed my eyes and let out a soft curse. "I'm so sorry. I… this isn't how I…."

"No, no, forget it." With a quick shake of her head, Lily turned and headed towards the exit. "I have to go. This… um… this never happened."

I watched, as she disappeared through the door, and wondered, with a quite bit of irritation, if she was even capable of finishing a conversation without running away. I considered chasing after her, but realized I needed to do something else first.

**xxx**

I made my way up to the hospital wing of the school and found my friend sitting up in bed, looking incredibly pissed off. I had a feeling the conversation wasn't going to go well, so I thought it was a good thing I was already in the hospital wing. When Albus hexed me into oblivion, Madame Pomfrey would be able to tend to my injuries immediately.

But, just in case, I brushed up against the night table and managed to jostle it enough that Albus's wand fell to the floor. Thankfully, he didn't notice. He was too busy ranting.

"When I get out of here, I'm going to fry her hair! I don't care if I haven't done that since I was six! I told you, Mum and Dad let her get away with too much! This is crazy!" Clearly, Albus was not feeling a lot of brotherly love towards his sister at the moment.

I stepped back a couple of steps and cleared my throat. "Uh, Al? I need to talk to you about something."

He stopped ranting and looked at me. It must have shown on my face how serious I was, because he immediately looked concerned. "Yeah? What is it?"

I sat down on the empty bed next to his and confessed, a bit abruptly, "I just kissed your sister."

Albus looked at me with a puzzled look. "I _must_ have a concussion, Malfoy. I could have sworn I just heard you say you kissed my sister."

"No, you heard right." I paused and added, "But…er… you may still have a concussion. I'm not sure."

Albus sat up straighter in the bed and stared at me. "You kissed Lily? When?"

"Just now."

"But…." Albus looked utterly astonished. "You just went down to clean up the rubbish on the bathroom wall. How… when… where….?"

I took a deep breath. "Look, I did. I cleaned it. She was there. I don't know, Al. It just happened. I wanted to… I needed to tell you. You're my best mate, you know I wouldn't -."

Albus threw his head back and burst out laughing. Then, he winced and touched the back of his head. Chuckling a little more quietly, while I stared at him in complete bemusement, he finally said, "Oi. Where's the legendary Malfoy charm? You snogged her in the bathroom?"

Now, I felt like a bit of a prat. "First of all, I don't have legendary charm. Secondly, do you think I _planned_ it? She just made me so angry and -."

"Wait, wait!" Albus cut in, holding up his hand, with a grimace. "No details, please." Then, he sobered up and gave me an uncertain look. "But what's your angle, mate? I mean, are you interested in her? Because she's seeing that arsehole -."

"I know," I interjected. Then, I took a deep breath, and admitted, "I've been interested in her for… some time. I just never did anything about it, because of you and, you know, she's younger…."

Albus nodded and then studied me for a minute. "I know you. You don't play around with girls. If you're really interested in her, then she could do a lot worse." His tone sharpened and he bit out, "She IS doing a lot worse."

I nodded in agreement. I hated that Gryffindor bloke with a passion.

"Let's say, for argument's sake, she dumps McCormick," Albus said, a bit abruptly. "You do realize that you haven't a shot with her, don't you?"

I shot him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"You're my best mate," Albus said, simply, as though that were explanation enough. At my questioning look, he elaborated. "Lily never goes out with anyone that's either a friend of mine or James. It's like she's got a rule. I have no idea why – and, frankly, I don't mind – but that's the way it is. I just don't think," he finished, with a shrug, "that she sees you that way."

I thought back to how she'd responded when I kissed her. I smiled at him and said, "I can worry about that. My question is: are you all right with it?"

Albus shrugged again. "Look, mate. You're as close to me as a brother. In fact, you're closer to me than James sometimes. If you want to try to date my sister, I'll be fine with it." He paused and said, in a warning tone, "You might not want to tell James, though. He's not as cool about things as I am."

It was enough for me. With a grateful thanks, I picked up his wand off the floor and handed it to him.

**xxx**

In the end, getting Albus's approval proved to be pointless and unnecessary. Even though she did end up dumping McCormick that day, it didn't mean that she decided to date me, either.

Lily, although very smart, was apparently not very big on confrontation. Because she avoided me for the rest of my seventh year. There were a few times I managed to catch her alone – either outside the library or the right outside the Ravenclaw common room - but she always managed to come up with some sort of breathless excuse and then run away. After a while, I noticed that she got into the habit of travelling with Jemma everywhere, so it would be impossible for me to get her alone. She was also constantly studying for her OWLs, which meant she spent a lot of time either in the library, which was full of fifth and seventh years students all the time.

After a week or so, I gave up and turned my attention to my own issues. NEWTs were around the corner and they were so hard they made the OWLs seem like a joke in comparison. On top of that, I had submitted my application for the Auror Academy and they'd given me a conditional acceptance in the program. Before formally accepting its students, the Academy required us to take a series of pre-exams to qualify, along with an interview. I was spending every waking minute either studying for the NEWTs or for the Academy exams, and I had no time to think about my love life (or lack thereof, as the case was).

By mid-summer, I had completed all my exams and interviews. The Academy immediately sent me a formal acceptance and training started a week after that. I barely had time to breathe.

From the first day, Auror training was brutal. It was harder than any classes I'd ever taken at Hogwarts. It wasn't just the studying; that was the easy part. It was the way they tested our emotional and psychological mettle. Aurors are constantly put in contact with Dark objects, so the training was designed to each us how to deal with the influence of the Dark Arts without getting corrupt. Secretly, I was glad that I'd taken extra lessons with Albus's father. It helped me get through some of the worst parts, and I was able to pick up things faster than the rest of my training class.

Unfortunately, this didn't endear me to them. They were already apathetic towards me because of the Malfoy name and my family history. But when I started to excel in the classes, their apathy turned to clear dislike. They'd go out after work to grab a pint at a local bar, but they never invited me. During partners' exercises, they'd avoid partnering up with me, and whoever ended up with me would talk to me as minimally as possible.

It brought up bad memories of my first year at Hogwarts. It had been so long since I'd had to deal with this sort of thing, I'd forgotten how bad it had been when I was younger. Bleakly, I wondered if this was destined to happen for the rest of my life. Everywhere I went, I'd have to prove to them that I was more than my last name. Was this how it had been for my father after he left Hogwarts? It must have been.

Eventually, things sorted themselves out. When I finished my training period, the department assigned us to teams of six and, within that team, we were each given a partner. I was assigned to a witch named Elaina Edison, who had been in a different training group than mine, so I didn't know her well. She was almost as tall as me, with gleaming blonde hair, tanned skin, and big blue eyes.

Our first assignment was to research and track down a Dark object that had been last seen at Knockturn Alley. The department was convinced that it was at Borgin and Burkes, and had just gotten a warrant to search the premises.

We apparated a short distance from Knockturn Alley, deciding to walk the rest of the way. We'd learned in the Academy that it was best not to apparate directly to dangerous locations, because people can sneak up on while you're trying to gather your bearings. As we walked towards Borgin and Burkes, I was quiet.

Finally, Elaina broke the silence. "You're Draco Malfoy's son, huh?" She was American and had that flat accent, with a slight drawl. I think she was from a state called Texas.

"Yes." I tensed, waiting for the usual attack that followed that comment.

My father and grandfather had actually been one of the topics we'd discussed in an Academy training class. Apparently, they'd both been involved with using Dark objects a couple of decades ago, so the Academy used them as examples. It had been mortifying sitting in those particular lessons. I had a feeling Elaina was now going to comment on it, since she hadn't gotten a chance during training.

"You know, Rose Weasley was in my training group," Elaina said, rather unexpectedly. She grinned at me. "She told me not to believe anything that people told me about you. And that you're supposed to be really smart and that I was lucky to be partnered with you."

I stared at her and smiled reluctantly. "Rose is a good friend."

"You know what I told her?" Elaina answered. "I told her I would never believe what a bunch Brits told me about a guy, anyway. I make my OWN judgments."

I started laughing. "That's… uh… smart of you. Although, since you're in Britain, you might not want to go around telling everyone that."

"Probably," Elaina nodded agreeably. She stopped walking and turned to face me with a serious look on her face. "Look, Malfoy, the point is: we're partners. We need to have each other's backs. Trust each other. It's the only way it'll work. If you're in, I'm in." She stuck out her hand, looking at me in a clear, straightforward way.

I took her hand and shook it firmly. "I'm in."

"Good." She released my hand, punched me in the arm lightly, and grinned. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership. Let's go hunt down that damn thing and get this assignment done."

As she walked off, her ponytail swinging, I almost had to physically restrain myself from saying, "Yes, ma'am."

As we continued towards Borgin and Burkes, Elaina kept up a steady stream of conversation.

"My parents are both Muggles, of course. Own a farm in Texas. We had no clue magic even existed until I got the letters on my eleventh birthday. I mean, weird things always happened when I was little, but we never really knew WHY. Although, my mom always figured she knew something, because of my name. I grew up surrounded by Cindys and Tiffanys… no one had a name like me. I think it was because she kind of sensed what I was, you know?" She turned to me with a grin. "Named my twin Eric, though. He got a normal name."

It seemed she'd paused long enough for me to talk, so I asked, "Er… is he… um… well, is he a wizard?"

"Yeah." She nodded and then turned back towards the front. "We went to Athenian Academy in California. I got a letter from Hogwarts, too, but leaving Texas was hard enough. I couldn't imagine coming all the way to England when I was eleven!"

"You came to England now," I pointed out.

"True," she conceded with a nod. At this point, we were at the shop, so she stopped. "I considered joining the Federal Auror Bureau. But, honestly? When I realized the world was so much bigger than I'd imagined, I decided it was time I explored more of it. And that's why I came here."

With a smile, I opened the door. "Lucky me." I found I meant it. Elaina was different, but interesting. And, more importantly, she was willing to give me a chance. So the least I could do was extend the same courtesy.

As these things happen, Elaina paved the way for me with my team. She was loud, brash, and loved a good joke. People naturally liked her (once they got used to her) and since I was her partner, I was considered to be part of the deal. It also helped that she threatened to curse anyone who even looked at me the wrong way. When I asked her about it once, she shrugged and said, "You remind me of my twin brother, actually. And I miss him."

**xxx**

During my training, I saw Lily twice. The first time was at a disastrous dinner at her parents' house. She'd invited a bloke named Michael Wright; she was seeing him and, from what I could tell, they'd gotten fairly close. I honestly did not see what she saw in him. He seemed a nice enough fellow, but he has the spine of a flubberworm. Not only that, she had essentially decided that whatever had happened between us in my seventh year wasn't worth really thinking about.

Now, it wasn't exactly like I'd been pining after her myself. School and the Auror Academy had been keeping me rather busy and the last thing I had was time to focus on Lily and picking up where we left off. But still, the thought that she'd just gone along her merry way at Hogwarts and picked up yet another stupid prat was beyond galling. I had my pride, after all.

So, I managed to get her alone at some point, and attempted to point out to her that avoiding the situation was somewhat moronic. She then responded, rather calmly, with some sort of nonsense about how I was only interested in her because she was Albus's sister. At that moment, I realized that Lily might be the smartest person I knew, but the witch knew next to nothing about men and relationships.

My frustration welled up, until it resulted in me behaving like a perfect arse in front of the Potters. And then I had to have an uncomfortable conversation with Auror Potter about how I wasn't usually an arse, but it just came out every now and then. I had a feeling he knew (or at least suspected) that I harbored feelings of the carnal kind towards his daughter, but he's not the head of the Auror department for nothing. He just handed me a glass of firewhiskey, told me he'd be there if I ever needed to talk, and then sat in his study with me until I'd down the entire glass and then some.

It was that night I decided that Lily Luna Potter was too complicated. It was too difficult pinning her down. It was like trying to carry water in your hands; you could contain it for only so long and then it began seeping through the cracks until there was nothing left to hold. I decided I'd be nice and polite every time we met; we were, after all, old acquaintances and her brother was my best mate. And I also decided that I needed to start dating again, now that things were finally settling down at work. I wasn't sure who I would turn my attention to, since I spent every waking minute at work, but I figured there must be someone who was worth going out with.

**xxx**

What is it they say about best laid plans? One night, I went out to a club, _Wicked_, with friends and had just decided that I was going to ask out Sarah, one of my team members, on the date.

And, of course, Lily chose that exact moment to stroll into the club with Jemma in tow.

She looked stunning and, for a second, I had to laugh at the idea that my fifteen-year old self had been ashamed to be salivating over this girl. Now, at age eighteen, she looked perfectly legal in all the right ways and perfectly illegal in all the others.

Lily wore a tight, black dress that stopped right above her knees. The dress had spaghetti straps, with a low neckline, so it showed off her creamy and delicate shoulders. The dark color was a sharp contrast to her fair coloring, and she'd worn her long hair down so it flowed in waves down her back. She'd worn spiky high heels for the occasion and, with a start, I realized this was the first time I'd seen her dressed up since the Valentine's Day ball at Hogwarts years ago. She looked older than eighteen, and I realized that – much like back then – every male in her vicinity was openly taking stock of her, their gazes lingering on her chest. I worked very hard not to pull out my wand to cast a mass blinding spell on every bloke in the club. I had a feeling the Auror department would frown upon that kind of behavior.

At that moment, Jemma noticed me and called me over. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, Lily had joined my friends and was on her way to getting rip-roaring drunk. After about an hour of watching her toss back one bramble-apple martini after another, I started diluting her drinks.

When the club finally closed down for the night, I saw her get to her feet, tottering on her impossibly high heels. I grasped a hold of her; there was no way I was letting her attempt to apparate in that condition; not that I was even convinced she could if she wanted.

I managed to get her into her living room, which was no easy feat given that her father had installed every protection imaginable on her flat. What he hadn't considered was that Lily was her own worst enemy.

I handed her some tea, in hopes that it would sober her down and she took an experimental sip. Then, rather decisively, she put her mug down. And then she took the mug out of my hand and put it down on the other table.

Confused, I frowned. "What, is it not good? I have to admit, I don't usually drink tea, I -"

Then, out of the blue, Lily leaned forward and kissed me.

It took a second for my brain to catch up to my body and I broke away to finish, "…usually drink coffee. Lily, what are you -?"

She completely ignored me, and instead just moved until she was straddling my lap. Her tight dress rode up her thighs. My hands dropped to her hips to steady her, and that made her fit against me perfectly.

Before I could say anything, she leaned down and brushed her lips against mine tantalizingly. "I'm so sick of this," she whispered. "I want you, you want me. Let's do something about it."

She did? This was news to me. I reminded myself that I was a gentleman and she was completely drunk. "Lily, no, we…."

Again, she cut me off with her soft lips; her tongue ran along the seam of my mouth, urging me to respond. I groaned and then I couldn't resist anymore. I pressed against her and my tongue swept into her mouth, kissing her back hungrily.

Her hands worked their way up my shirt and she started to unbutton the top most button. There was a part of my brain that started to function and I felt it tell me that I needed to stop her. But her lips were heaven against mine, and her skin was soft under my hands.

Then, she broke way and exclaimed, "You have too many damn buttons!" She reached back and grabbed her wand and pointed it at my chest. "Accio buttons."

My buttons went flying past her and she moved out of the way, launching herself onto my chest. "Hhhmm… nice." She leaned back and gazed down at me, running her hands nimbly over my now bare chest.

Her delicate touch was actually what I needed to snap to my senses. It was like a bucket of cold water and, with horror, I realized how close I'd come to doing something dishonorable.

"Lily!" I grasped her around the waist and set her back on the sofa. Standing up, I moved several feet back and attempted to put my shirt back together, but it was futile. Instead, I focused on staring down at her. "What are you doing?"

"Good point." Lily nodded with a hint of a smile. Then, she sat up on her knees and then grasped the edge of her dress. "It's not fair for me to just get rid of _your_ clothes."

Then, she pulled off her dress and tossed it off to the side. I lost my breath. I'd imagined the moment when I'd see what Lily Potter wore under her clothes, but imaginings could not compare to the reality. Her breasts were perfectly cupped by a sheer, black lace strapless bra, and she wore matching knickers. While I was an honorable person (most of the time), I did allow myself one glance down the length of her delicious body and then I closed my eyes.

In the end, it took several attempts before I was able to get her into her bedroom and back into some proper clothes. When I was satisfied that she was asleep, I left for the night and went back to my own London flat. And then spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, and telling myself that honor was immensely over-rated.

**xxx**

It may be that honor is over-rated, but it did pay off for me in the end. For whatever reason, Lily decided that the evening in her apartment was a turning point. I had already decided that I was going to adopt her standard 'avoid-the-subject-at-all-costs' policy regarding her strip tease, but she surprised me by hunting me down and thanking me. And then, she followed it up by asking me out on a date.

Never one to walk away from an intriguing prospect, I accepted and found myself, later that evening, sitting across from her at a nice Muggle restaurant in London.

It was a very enjoyable evening. We'd known each other for years, and had quite a few shared experiences, so finding topics to talk about wasn't difficult. She brought me up to speed on her job at the _Daily Prophet_, and regaled me with stories of her childhood. There were numerous stories about the Weasleys and weekends she'd spent at the Burrow surrounded by all sorts of cousins, aunts, and uncles.

She'd just finished telling me about a particularly amusing anecdote about Ted Lupin and the time James had caught him in bed Victoire, when she leaned back and said, "Enough about me." Lily picked up her wine glass and took a sip. Her eyes were sparkling as she looked across the table at me. The candlelight made her hair look like it was fire itself. "Your turn."

Running my hand along the rim of my own wineglass, I shrugged lightly. "Not much to say. You know what my job is like. You grew up with your father."

But, at her insistence, I went into some detail about some of the sorts things I'd been working on and how I didn't find the work as glamorous as I'd once thought it was going to be.

"I expect all new jobs are like that," Lily answered, with a slight grin. "At least, that's what my mum told me. She said that she spent her entire first year on the Harpies basically being a broom-girl. It was a year before they let her out of the reserves. I guess we just have to prove ourselves, then. Me to my editor and you to the Auror department."

"Let's drink to that." I tapped my glass against hers and took a swallow of the wine.

"So, what about growing up? I've bored you with stories upon stories of the Weasleys and Potters. It's only fair you bore me with Malfoy stories." Lily looked at me expectantly, while she took a bite of her fish.

With some hesitation, I answered, slowly, "Not much to tell, really. Your stories are infinitely more interesting."

"Still." Lily set down her fork and rested her hand on her cheek, her full attention on me. "I know there were at least a _few _Christmases you didn't spend with us," she said in a teasing tone. "So, what was your childhood like? Growing up a Malfoy?"

Avoiding her gaze, I focused on cutting into my steak. The fact was that I didn't talk to people about what it was like growing up as a Malfoy. From the day I joined Hogwarts, I realized that it was best not to bring up my family tree in polite society. People immediately became uncomfortable or they just flat out told you how they felt about your family being followers of Voldemort. Invariably, it led to questions about what my father was thinking, attempting to kill Albus Dumbledore. People always asked me that question as though I knew the answer. I'm fairly certain my father didn't even know the answer, so how could I explain on his behalf? But I couldn't tell Lily that. At least, not on the first date. I told myself that it was a conversation better suited to a tenth or twentieth date.

In the end, I told her the only thing that I felt wouldn't mar the evening. "I was an only child. So, it was quiet."

Lily studied me for a moment and then said, thoughtfully, "Quiet. I'm not even sure I know what that word _means_. I'm green with envy right now." And, with that, she changed the subject and went back to complaining about being the youngest girl in the entire extended Weasley clan.

**xxx**

Slowly, the first date turned into many dates. It wasn't perfect or ideal; Lily had gotten it into her head that she wanted to hide the fact that we were dating from her family. She kept claiming it had something to do with how she didn't want her entire family to nose into her business, but I had a feeling that the Jemma and James situation had shaken her up quite a bit. Jemma had been her friend since first year, and it was hard not to see the parallels between her friendship with Jemma and my friendship with Albus. I considered telling her that Albus had given me his blessing years ago, but I decided against it. With Lily, there was no telling how she'd handle the idea that I'd talked to her brother about her.

Our relationship, both the physical side and the regular side, was the best one I'd ever been in. Not that I'd been in that many, but even I knew enough to know that Lily was the sort of witch I wanted to be with. She understood the demands of my job and didn't question me if I had to cancel plans at the last minute. She was fun to be around, with the ability to tell entertaining stories, but there were times where she just stayed still, content to allow for the moments of peaceful silence between two people. All in all, it was a happy time, with the only thing marring it that we couldn't see each other out in the open.

One weekend, I decided to go back to the Manor, since it had been awhile since I'd seen my parents. After a nice dinner, I went back up to my room. I'd had a few firewhiskeys and it was late, so I thought it would be better to just sleep at my parents' place, rather than try to apparate back to London. I looked around my old room and realized I'd never really cleaned it up that well after leaving Hogwarts and, for whatever reason, got it into my head that I should tidy up a bit .

I'd taken a few things with me to the London flat, but left all my school things behind. My desk was a mess; piles of books, old quills and random pieces of parchment strewn about. With a nostalgic smile, I started to go through the remnants of my time at Hogwarts. Under several pieces of parchment, I came across a stack of photographs from my time at Hogwarts. There were some pictures from parties we'd had in the Slytherin common room after Quidditch victories. And some pictures of a few girls that had been pressed on me over the years. I put them aside in the pile for the rubbish. Towards the bottom of the stack was one of the last pictures taken during my time at school. I remembered the day clearly.

_The seventh years had finished up their NEWTs the day before and the fifth years had just finished their final OWLs. The day was sunny, with a warm breeze coming from off the lake. It seemed like every student at Hogwarts was out celebrating the end of exams. _

_I'd been sitting near the lake with a group of Slytherins, including Albus, and we'd been talking about our plans for post-Hogwarts. Albus, who'd always excelled in Arithmancy, was going to begin an apprenticeship at Gringotts in a few weeks. Several of our group was planning on taking a trip around the world before settling down somewhere. I was leaning back against a tree, joking around and completely relaxed, when a flash of orange-flamed hair caught my eye. Lily was walking by the edge of the lake with Jemma, and she was laughing at something Jemma was saying. _

_Without giving it much thought, I leapt to my feet and walked towards her purposefully. We were due to leave Hogwarts in a few weeks' time, and I knew that this might be one of the last times I'd get a chance to talk to her. To explain things to her. _

_When I approached them, Jemma paused and caught Lily's arm to stop her, too. Lily turned to face me and her eyes widened slightly. Then, she offered me a wary smile. _

_Glancing between the two of us, Jemma said, "Um… well. Hi, Scorp." _

_I nodded politely. "Hi, Jemma." Turning towards Lily, I added, "Hi, Lily." _

"_So…" Jemma cleared her throat and made a show of looking beyond me to a group of Ravenclaws. "You know, there's Cassie." She turned to Lily and explained, while walking away quickly, "I've been meaning to ask her what she put down for question five on the Potions exam. I could have sworn that adding an eye from a horned viper makes the Biting Potion blow up, but Thomas said that it actually turns it opaque and makes the teeth grow longer." _

_When she was gone, Lily turned to me and commented, "Subtle, that Jemma is, isn't she?" _

"_Yeah." Letting out a slight laugh, I stuck my hands in my robes and looked down at her uncomfortably. "Lily, I've wanted to -." _

_Before I could get the rest of the sentence out, we heard a loud pop! and a flash of light went off. I saw that Jackson, a seventh year from Hufflepuff, had just taken our picture. _

_With a grin, Jackson said, "Taking pictures for the year-end book. You want a copy of this one, Malfoy? You, Lily?" _

_Lily and I exchanged a look. It was clear from the expression on her face that she was thinking what I was thinking. Would it look odder to refuse the picture or accept it? _

_Lily started, "No, that's quite all right-." Just as I said, "Yes, that's fine." _

_We looked at each other again, and Lily shook her head in confusion. "Er… well… yes, all right." She looked towards the group of Ravenclaws, her eyes seeking an escape. "I have to go – I was also wondering whether the eye of a horned viper was supposed to go into the Biting Potion. I better check with Cassie, too." _

_As Lily hurried past me, I said, "It doesn't." _

_Lily paused and looked back towards me, with a raised brow. "What?" _

"_It's not the eye of a horned viper." I picked up a stone from the ground and then tossed it into the lake, watching it skip a few times. "For the Biting Potion, you want the eye of a two-horned adder. It's a common mistake wizards make - they confuse the two snakes." _

_Lily tilted her head to the side and studied me for a second. Then, she grinned, "I'll have to take your word for it. You are in Slytherin; you must know your snakes." _

_Letting out a laugh, I said drily, "Or I just know my potions." _

_Lily tucked her hair behind her ear, a little nervously, and looked back at Jackson, who had been listening in on every word with interest. "Bye, Jackson. See you around, Scorpius." And then she was off. _

Tracing my finger over the paper lightly, I looked down at the younger versions of us and smiled. I was just about to put the picture in my wallet, when my mother entered the room.

"What are you doing, Scorpy?" She glanced down at the piles I'd put together of old books and quills. With a sigh, she sat down. "Ezki will do that, dear. That's why we have house elves, you know."

"It's fine. I'll have Ezki throw out everything, but she won't know how to sort it."

My mother glanced around and saw my wand on my bed, several metres away. "You're not doing it the Muggle way, are you?"

"Sometimes, it's satisfying to do it the Muggle way, Mum," I told her, with a smile.

My mother looked scandalized. "You get such odd ideas sometimes, dear." Then her eyes landed on the picture in my hand and, before I could stop her, she'd plucked it out of my fingers and she was studying it carefully. "Who is this?"

"Lily Potter," I told her truthfully. "Albus's sister." After some hesitation, I added, "And my girlfriend." It felt odd calling Lily that, but I guessed it was as apt of a description as any.

My mother's head shot up and she gave me a sharp look. "You've been seeing someone since Hogwarts and you didn't tell me? Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy – if this Auror business is going to make you secretive, then it's not going to work. You know how we feel about secrets in this house."

Holding up my hands, I said, hurriedly, "No, no, I haven't been seeing her since Hogwarts. That picture was taken well before we -." I stopped, trying to figure out the best way to give my mother an edited version of events. "We only started seeing each other a few weeks ago. Of course, I was going to tell you. That's why I came this weekend."

Appearing to be mollified by that, my mother glanced down at the picture with a thoughtful expression. "Lily Potter? Albus Potter's sister?" She looked back up at me and said, "She's Harry Potter's daughter!"

"Yes, mother," I responded, in mildly sarcastic tone, "It stands to reason that Albus Potter's sister would be Harry Potter's daughter."

My mother fixed me with a warning look. "Don't use that tone with me."

Letting out a sigh, I said, "Sorry."

"You know what this means, don't you?" My mother looked excited and… oddly… a little hopeful. "This is wonderful."

Thrown off, I asked, with a frown, "Uh… why is that?"

"Because… well, she's a Potter." My mother leaned forward a bit and said, crossly, "Don't look at me like that, Scorpy. You're not a child anymore and I know that you're fully aware of how things are for us."

I shook my head. "I know, but -."

"No, I want you to listen," my mother cut in, with a wince. "I don't like speaking of these things, but there are things that even you don't know. Our name, it's worthless now. The only reason we're even allowed to live in the Wizarding world is because of our wealth. That's all we have left." With a bitter twist of her lips, she added, "That's one thing the Malfoys have always been good at – getting more gold." Letting out a sigh, she took the small figurine of a dragon off my desk and began stroking it down its back. The dragon purred in contentment and cuddled up on her palm. "When we were first married, I thought I would be able to change that. I joined numerous charities and began to donate large sums to charities that were specifically related to Muggle problems. They took my gold, of course. They were quick to write to me to ask for another cheque, but never felt the need to send an owl with an invitation to dinner or tea."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I kept silent, waiting for her to finish.

She looked down at the dragon sadly. "It wasn't as terrible for me, I suppose, but I worried about you. The only people who would still have anything to do with us were the people who were part of Death Eater families themselves. And your father refused to let us have anything to do with them, so you grew up, essentially, friendless."

I forced a smile to my lips. "It's okay, Mum. It all worked out in the end."

With a troubled look in her eyes, she responded, "I know. But I also know what your first year at Hogwarts was like." She shook her head. "For years, I asked your father to reach out to the Potters. To try to get them to set aside the… the… silliness… that happened at Hogwarts all those years ago. I know they accepted you, but your father… he has his pride, though, and he wouldn't listen…."

"Silliness?" I stared at her blankly. "Mum, my grandfather helped Voldemort kill and torture people. Father almost murdered the Hogwarts headmaster at the time. The man people claim was the greatest wizard that ever lived. I think that's a little more serious than a mere school rivalry."

"But don't you see," she answered, fiercely, "That's not who your father is! He was merely a boy! Being used by an evil, sadistic bastard. Why can't people understand that he was just as much of a victim as everyone else?"

Nodding, I answered, slowly, "I know, Mum. But Voldemort's gone. And they need someone to blame. And the Malfoys are as good as anyone, I suppose."

"Well, I'm tired of it," my mother answered. And, indeed, she did look very tired. "I know this must sound terrible and calculating to you, Scorpy. But I only want what's best for you. And, some day, I want your children and _their_ children to be able to walk through Diagon Alley with their heads held high. To not suffer what your father and I suffer, and what you've suffered."

Reaching out, I placed my hand on hers gently. "No, I don't think that's terrible." And I didn't. Wasn't this one of the very reasons I chose to be an Auror? To restore honor to the Malfoy name? "But, Mum, I don't think Lily is necessarily the answer. That's a lot of pressure to put on a girl barely out of school."

Sniffing a bit, my mother nodded. "Yes, of course." Then, she brightened and smiled at me. "I would love to meet her. You'll bring her around for dinner, of course?" She set the dragon back down on my desk decisively.

Leaning back in my chair, I cleared my throat. "Um… of course."

"Next Sunday, then?" My mother stood up, smoothing down the front of her dress and staring down at me with a firm look. "I'll let your father know to expect her."

"Of course."

**xxx**

The dinner wasn't exactly a disaster, nor was it a resounding success. Although my mother had assured me she'd keep her enthusiasm for the match to herself, it was clear she was unable to hold to her promise. She kept saying and doing things that made it clear she was already imagining the red-haired grandchildren she was going to have.

After a particularly uncomfortable moment, I escaped to my old room with Lily, letting out a sigh of relief as I did so.

Glancing around my room, curiously, Lily commented, "This is your room. It's about four times the size of mine at the Hollow."

"I've never been in your room at the Hollow so I'll take your word for it," I answered, leaning back against my bureau. Crossing my arms, I couldn't help but smile at her. She looked so tiny standing next to my huge bed. That thought led to very inappropriate thoughts of what I could do to her on that bed. Actually, considering the amount of times I'd pictured her in that very spot when I was teenager, I felt I almost owed it to my younger self to act on those fantasies.

Unfortunately, Lily's mind wasn't in the same place as mine. Lily looked towards me and asked, in rather annoyed tone, "Why does your mother seem to think we're about to get married?"

I uncrossed my arms and let out a resigned sigh. I couldn't very well tell her that my mother saw her as the savior of all the future Malfoy generations. She was so skittish when it came to commitment already. So, instead, I just said, "I knew you'd make a fuss about this. Look, my mother doesn't think we're about to get married. She thinks we will – eventually – get married, and she's a person who likes to plan. That's all."

Since Lily's not a moron, her response was, "I'm not seeing much of a difference, Malfoy."

Avoiding her gaze, I responded, evenly, "There is, trust me."

Lily bit her lower lip anxiously. "Does she realize that I'm only eighteen? And you're twenty?"

I shrugged and pointed out, "Does that mean much in the Wizard world? Your parents married at twenty. My parents married when my father was twenty-one. Al just proposed to his girlfriend. And he's my age."

Not that this meant I was about to propose to Lily tomorrow, but I was starting to get a little annoyed that the idea was so outlandish to her. Most girls pressure a bloke to think about marriage; not the other way around.

Lily seemed to give that some thought. "Uh… well… true. But, still. I'm not ready and I really don't want to be thinking about it."

"I'll make a note of it," I answered, keeping my tone purposefully light-hearted. "I'll write it down: don't propose to Lily for at least a decade."

She let out a weak laugh, and then picked up the same dragon figurine my mother had been fiddling with a week earlier. My parents had given it to me for my fifth birthday, when I was going through a dragon phase. (Well, I suppose I never really grew out of the phase, because my Patronus takes the shape of a dragon.) Lily ran her fingers along the sharp edge of its tail and the figurine snapped at her hand in retaliation. She immediately put it back down on my desk.

Then, rather abruptly, Lily asked, "What did she mean that you're set to inherit everything?" She settled down on my bed, tucking her feet under her.

Confused by the question, I responded, "It means exactly that. I'm the only child of an only child. I'm the last Malfoy, actually. So, I inherit everything. It's fairly obvious."

"What are you going to do with it?" Lily had an odd expression on her face. "I mean, based on the way your father was talking, it seems like there's a lot to this heir business. So, how do you plan to take over for your father when you're an Auror?"

She looked impossibly small, sitting on my humungous bed, almost child-like. I was starting to feel like I was dwarfing her, so I sat down in one of my arm-chairs. It was odd that she asked the very question that my parents had asked me before agreeing to support me in my decision to be an Auror. Letting out a slight laugh at the irony, I answered, "I'll figure it out." Then, I thought about my father and the idea of losing him filled me with a sense of terror. And, more in an effort to reassure myself than Lily, I stated, "Not that I'll have to worry about that for quite a while, yet. My father's health is in excellent condition."

Lily was silent for a few minutes and then, in a quiet voice, she asked, "Has it all been a lie, then? Being an Auror? Coming to my family's house all those times throughout the years? This entire time, I thought it was because you didn't want to be a Malfoy. Because you were unhappy here. But, instead, you were perfectly fine. Living in this mansion, with your house elves and your doting parents."

Completely perplexed at how she'd made _that _leap, I shot back, in irritation, "I don't even know what that means. I used to go to your family's house, because it was fun. Sure, my parents love me and I love them. But it's lonely being an only child. Your family… your house… there was always commotion about. So, in the beginning, I just liked having friends my own age around. Then," I paused, not knowing how she would take it, "Later, I liked going to your house, so I could see you. Not that you ever paid attention to me," I couldn't help but add, still somewhat smarting about that. "You were always in your own world."

Lily didn't respond. She just picked at a loose thread on my bedspread.

"I don't know what you expected, Lily." I let out a frustrated sigh. "My parents aren't like your parents, but I love them. Why would you think I didn't? Just because the name Malfoy makes people…." I stopped, not wanting to go into the details of what it was like to walk down Diagon Alley. There was a reason I lived in Muggle London. In a low tone, I finished, "I think my father has paid for the mistakes he made as a young boy. My grandfather died in Azkaban for his sins. My grandmother almost went mad, and died a shell of a woman. When I decided to become an Auror, I thought my parents would be against it and try to stop me. But, instead, they decided to support me and told me not to worry about the family business."

"That's because they're waiting you out," Lily burst out. "Your dad just spent over two hours talking to you about the family business. He's grooming you to be his replacement."

"Grooming me?" I snorted in derision. "Are you even listening to yourself? Do you know how mad that is? My father is not some nefarious schemer who…."

"Sure he is," Lily interrupted. "It's perfect. They're going along with your plans and then, eventually, they think you'll come to your senses."

"Lily." I shook my head, wondering how she could see my entire family like that based on _one _meeting. "Did the thought ever occur to you that they're supportive just because? If your parents can be that way, then why can't mine?"

"Because…." Lily started and then became silent, avoiding my gaze.

"Yes?" When she didn't say anything, I glared at her angrily. Now I knew what was going on. "Because we're Malfoys." I tried to gain control of my temper as a horrible thought occurred to me. "Is this why you won't tell your family we're dating? Because you're ashamed to be dating a Malfoy?"

"No, of course not!" Lily exclaimed, looking like she meant it. But then, she added, "I've never held you being a Malfoy against you. You know that."

I gave her a dirty look. "That's lovely. I've never held you being a Potter against _you_."

Lily took a deep breath. "That's not what I meant. It came out wrong. I told you my reasons for keeping it from my family. It has nothing to do with you."

"Actually, Lily, I think it came out exactly right." My voice was cold, but inside, my heart was breaking. Of all the people in the world, I never expected to hear this from Lily. I braced myself and didn't let her see how much her words hurt. After all, I had years of experience hiding the pain from the people around me. "You can't set aside the way people still look at us. You're afraid of what people will think when they know that Harry Potter's daughter is dating the Malfoy boy. Apparently, I'm good enough to be _friends_ with, but romance is a whole other situation?"

Lily paled, making the freckles scattered across her nose more vivid. Her brown eyes were blazing as she leapt to her feet. "How dare you say that? I don't think like that. I could care less that I'm Harry Potter's daughter."

I assessed her coolly and shrugged. "Whatever you have to tell yourself, Lily." Then, I stood up, too. "I'll take you back to the broom storage. We should go."

I expected her argue but, instead, she just agreed in a flat tone. "All right. Let's go."

After I'd apparated back to my room, I pulled out my wallet and stared down at the picture I'd put there. And realized, with a sinking feeling, that I'd just broken up with a girl that I was hopelessly in love with. And I had no idea what to do about it.

**xxx**

**Hushpuppy22: **_Thank you for your kind comments! I'm so glad you liked the chapter. _

**Cacata:** _Thanks for leaving a comment for each chapter. I love it when people do that. To answer your points: _

_(1) And, yes, I also agree that it would make more sense for Harry to shrug off Malfoy's past misdeeds & that Ginny would be hesitant. _

_(2) Teddy did know that Scorpius was his cousin; he just didn't care. I knew people would groan about the Rose/Scorpius snogging, but I thought it would make sense for R/S to try to date for a while. I have no problems with the idea that Scorpius and Lily would date other people before getting together, so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal if one of the girls Scorpius dated was Rose. _

_(3) And, yes, you are absolutely right that Lily is a hypocrite. I wouldn't say she's self-absorbed, though. It's just as much Scorpius's fault that she doesn't know anything about his family as it is hers. He doesn't like to talk about it and then Lily filled in the blanks the best way she knew how. She did make some assumptions, based on her own prejudices, that Scorpius didn't like his family, but it wasn't like he gave her much to go on. This will be addressed more with them in the third part of "The First Time I Slept". _

**Emilyswain: **_Thank you so much for your kind words! I also agree that there aren't enough Lily/Scorpius fics out there. When you compare it the number to Rose/Scorpius fics, it's just a tiny fraction. I wouldn't say that I despise Rose/Scorpius (and have read some good fics with that pairing), but I do feel like it's a bit obvious. I also feel like there shouldn't be THAT much tension there. Just because Ron makes that random comment in the Epilogue doesn't mean that Ron would suddenly become the worst father in the world & make Rose's life hell if she decided to date Scorpius. With Lily, though, you have other issues. She's younger; she's got two older brothers; and Harry and Draco really DETESTED each other. At a level that even Ron & Hermione didn't. So, to me, I think the Wizarding world would be much more taken aback by Harry Potter's daughter (as opposed to a niece) hooking up with a Malfoy. _

_And thanks for the comment about the scene at the Valentine's Day ball. And, yeah, Lily is being VERY logical. That's the kind of person she is. It's hard for her to turn off her brain and follow her heart. That's why she was in Ravenclaw and not Gryffindor, I guess. LOL _

**LilyScorpius:** _Thank you!_

**OhMyJonasHP:** _Thank you!_

**TwilightObsesive:** _Thank you! I did not include the convo with Harry (I read your comment after I'd already written that part of the chapter) because there really wasn't much to it from Scorpius's POV. Maybe I'll do a companion one-shot that explains what was going on from HARRY'S pov, because that is infinitely more interesting. _

**X8xdanix6x:** _Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying Scorpius's POV. The next part of "The First Time I Slept" will explain more about why Lily kept it a secret. In short, Lily's got issues. _


	8. Slept, Part 2

_The third time I slept…_

The third time I slept with Scorpius Malfoy, it was at a time when I not only was not planning it, but I was expecting it to never happen again.

It had been almost two months since we'd last spoken to each other and I had tried, over and over again, to get in touch with Scorpius, but he had completely frozen me out. My owls went unanswered; I attempted to Floo to his place a few times, but he was never there. I even sent him my Patronus, but he didn't respond to that, either.

Needless to say, I arrived at Teddy and Victoire's wedding feeling rather despondent. The last thing I wanted to do was spend a weekend with my entire extended family, celebrating the joyous union of two perfect people who apparently never had the sort of problems in the romance department that I was currently enduring.

I floated my two pieces of luggage ahead of me as I entered the hotel lobby. Looking about curiously, I saw various relatives and family friends hurrying to and fro. My parents were paying for half of the wedding, and I knew that they'd booked the entire inn, because the Weasley-Potter family alone took up three floors. And then, of course, there was Victoire's family from France, and all of Victoire and Teddy's friends from Hogwarts and their work.

"Ah, Lils! There you are! I was wondering where you'd gotten to. Everyone else arrived hours ago!"

I turned and saw Rose hurrying towards me. With a flick of my wand, I let my luggage float gently down to the ground and then gave my cousin a long hug. It had been about six months since I'd seen her last. She'd even missed my nineteen birthday party because of her work.

"Sorry, I'm late." I pulled back to look at her with a smile. She'd grown out her hair even longer and, I'm not sure how, but she looked even more beautiful than usual. "I actually got an article, Rosie! It's going to be published and everything. I had to turn it in before I left, so that's why I'm late."

Rose's lips curved up into a grin. "That's brilliant! So, your editor's not as much of an idiot as I thought he was."

"So, are we bunking together again?" I asked Rose briskly, getting ready to take my luggage and follow her. We were always lumped together at family gatherings, because we were the closest in age.

Rose shook her head. "No, I'm with Dom."

I frowned. "Isn't Dom going to room with Roxanne?"

"No, didn't you hear?" Rose glanced around and then lowered her voice. "Remember that vampire she's seeing? Aunt Fleur refused to invite him and, apparently, Uncle George backed her up. Because he doesn't want Roxanne seeing him, either. And so Roxanne's not coming."

"Nooo," I breathed. "That's terrible!" With a frown, I added, "Why won't Aunt Fleur just invite him? I mean, _honestly_. Teddy's half-werewolf."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Not exactly werewolf, but I know what you mean." She glanced around again and then lowered her voice even more. "My mum told me that Veelas and vampires have history."

"Really?" This captured my interest. Aunt Hermione is a veritable faucet of random information. Most of my family doesn't pay much attention to her when she goes off on her lectures, but I've always found her to be fascinating. "What kind of history?"

"Something about their blood," Rose explained, in a hushed whisper. "It's irresistible to vampires. They can't control their… uh… urges."

"To _feed_?" I squeaked. I looked around and spied about four of Victoire's Veela cousins right off the bat. "Well, in that case, I don't blame Aunt Fleur. So what's got Roxanne's knickers in a bunch? She can't very well want her boyfriend to eat the wedding party."

Rose let out a sound of disgust. "She thinks he'll be able to control himself. And that this is just Uncle George's way of keeping her away from him." Shaking her head, Rose added, in a sharp voice, "It's disgraceful, is what it is. Imagine that. A Weasley choosing her boyfriend over the family! Blood is thicker – I don't know what she's thinking. But if she made the choice, then I say good riddance." Rose stuck her nose in the air and tossed her hair back over her shoulder for good measure.

With an uneasy shrug, I countered, "Maybe she loves him."

Rose gave me a disbelieving look. "Love? How in all that's hot and holy in Hades can you love someone your family doesn't like? Have you _met_ our family? We're the most easy going and accepting family in the Wizarding world! So, if we don't like someone, we have a bloody damn good reason, Lily."

I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off. "Oh, right, you need to go talk my mum about your room. I'm not sure who you're rooming with." She grimaced. "It's got to be better than Dom. She's in a tizzy because she thinks Victoire chose green for the maid of honor dress because she knew Dom looks washed out in it."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Victoire did," I told her, with a slight laugh. "You know Victoire wouldn't want Dom to outshine her at the wedding."

Rose has always idolized Victoire, so she quickly refuted, in a loyal voice, "No, she chose it because she knew the rest of us red-headed bridesmaids would need green, since everything else clashes with our hair."

"Fair point," I conceded. Then I looked around until I found my aunt. "All right, well, let me go check in. We'll catch up later."

"Yeah, dinner's at seven. See you then."

I left my luggage where it was and walked up to my aunt, who was reading through a long scroll of parchment. Her wavy hair was up in a bun, with a few quills stuck in it, and she looked very harried. When she saw me, her eyes lit up and she smiled.

"Lily!" She enfolded me in a hug, holding onto me a little longer than necessary. My aunt has always had a soft spot for me because, other than Rose, I'm the only one who's read every book she's ever written. "How are you, sweetheart?" Aunt Hermione pulled back and gazed down at me critically. "Your mother will say the same thing, but I think you're much too thin."

I looked at her slender waist pointedly. "I'm not sure you're allowed to judge, Aunt Hermione. Have you been using a slimming potion?"

She blushed and patted her hair a bit. "Oh, dear, that's such a nice thing to say." She beamed and admitted, "Your mother and I have started a new routine to get some exercise. She's teaching me how to play Quidditch."

"Oh!" My brows shot up. My aunt's worse on a broom than I am. And that's saying something. "How is that going?"

"Quite splendidly, in fact," my mother's amused voice said from right next to me. When I turned to face her, I saw she was standing there, a man's tie dangling from one hand. She also gave me a quick hug. With a fond smile towards my aunt, my mother finished, "Hermione isn't bad. I keep telling her she should have tried out for the team when we were at Hogwarts."

With a laugh, my aunt shook her head. "You're just being nice, Gin. I know full well I can barely stay on a broom. But," she said, brightly, "At least I'm losing weight!"

"You're late. I was starting to get worried," my mother said to me. "I was just about to send out my Patronus to look for you."

"Sorry, I should have sent a message." I told her about my deadline and she nodded in understanding.

"I remember those days well," my mother answered, with a nostalgic smile. "My editor was a fanatic about deadlines. Just be grateful you don't have a two year old hanging off one leg, while a baby's hanging off one boo-."

"Ginny!" Aunt Hermione interjected in a reproving tone, her face flushed. "Keep your voice down!"

My mom just burst out laughing. "No one's around but us," she said in a reassuring voice. "And I think Lily is old enough to know how feeding a baby works." She caught my eye and winked. "She's taken a class at Hogwarts and everything."

Before my aunt could say anything, I hastily changed the subject. "Aunt Hermione, if I'm not sharing with Rose, then do I have my own room?" My tone was hopeful, and I prayed I hadn't been put with Molly and Lucy. While the twins were sweet, I knew they'd insist we go to bed by ten so we could look our best at the wedding.

"No, the place is jam packed, darling. Everyone's sharing," my aunt told me. She unrolled the parchment and ran one quill down the page. "You're in room seventeen. I put you with Scorpius Malfoy's girlfriend."

My jaw dropped. "What? Who?"

What I wanted to say was, '_that's impossible! I'm Scorpius's girlfriend!' _But then I realized (1) that wasn't strictly true and (2) I was hiding that from my family, anyway.

Aunt Hermione frowned at me. "I don't remember her name. All I know is that Scorpius brought someone, so – naturally – I assume she's his girlfriend."

I couldn't believe it. It had only been two months and he'd replaced me _already_? Is this why he was avoiding all my owls and messages? And, to add insult to injury, he'd brought the witch to my own cousin's wedding?

I crossed my arms defiantly. "I'm not sharing a room with her."

My aunt looked utterly perplexed. "Why not?"

"Yes, why not, Lily?" My mother's astute gaze zeroed in on me. "What's the problem?"

"Because…." I tried to think of something to say and all I could come up with was, "I'm sure she snores or something equally revolting..."

"You don't even know the poor girl, Lily," Aunt Hermione answered.

_Poor girl?_ What about poor me? Of course, I couldn't say that, so I just said, "There must be somewhere. Anywhere. Where are we keeping the brooms?"

"Lily, don't be silly," my mother said to me, in a rather sharp tone. "You know we're co-hosting the wedding. I was the one who suggested that you stay with Scorpius's guest. Be hospitable."

Sucking in a deep breath, I started to argue, but then saw the implacable expression on my mother's face. And also, I realized I would be hard-pressed to make my case when I couldn't very well tell her that she'd just put Scorpius's ex-girlfriend with his new one.

"Oh, all right," I said, crossly. "Where's the key?"

Still looking rather mystified by my attitude, my aunt conjured a key with the flick of her wand, and I grabbed it from the air.

As I walked away, I heard my mother say to my aunt, "I don't know what's gotten into her."

"They're all moody now-a-days," my aunt replied, in a consoling voice. "I have no idea what Rose is about half the time."

"Anyway, Hermione, could you put one of your charms on Harry's neck-tie? Honestly, the man can take down Death Eaters with one hand, but he cannot keep this on for longer than five minutes…."

My mother's voice faded away as I walked down the hall that held rooms ten through twenty. As soon as I saw room seventeen, I stopped and started to put my key in the lock. Suddenly, a horrible thought occurred to me and I froze. What if Scorpius was _in_ there? This wasn't second year – I would not be able to handle walking in on him on a bed, snogging the daylights out of another witch. Or, worse, maybe he was doing even _more_.

My temper started to rise and it was all I could not to barge into the room and yell at the faceless, nameless girl to get her hands off of my boyfriend, thank you very much. I fingered my wand and imagined using my mother's infamous bat bogey hex on her. That would show her. _And_ it would have the added benefit of Scorpius Malfoy realizing how hideous the girl was.

After a few seconds of allowing myself the luxury of indulging in the fantasy, I finally took a deep breath and ordered myself to get a grip. As much as I would have loved hex the hell out of the woman on the other side of the door, I knew that I couldn't do that. At least not while she was awake.

Finally, I decided that knocking was the best way to go. I couldn't very well stand outside in the hall until someone came out. When I knocked, a girl's voice came through clearly. "Come in. It's open!"

Warily, I opened the door and let myself in. A quick scan showed me that there was no Scorpius and so he was, thankfully, not on top of a girl on the bed. But there was a girl on the other side of the room and she was currently in the process of opening the windows, so her back was to me. She had long, blonde hair and she looked tall and very pretty from the back. I prayed her front did not match her back and that she was part-troll.

Then, she turned around and said, with a grin, "Oh, hi, Lily! How're you doing?"

I let out a huge breath of relief. "Elaina! It's you!" Then, my relief turned to panic. "Elaina, it's _you_!"

Elaina's grin faltered and her brows furrowed. "Um… yes? It's me."

"I mean…." I stopped and then just blurted out, "When did you and Scorpius start seeing each other?"

Elaina stared at me in amazement and then she let out a burst of laughter. When she'd finally gotten control of herself, she wiped her eyes. "Oh my Lord. You are _hilarious_. No offense, but I wouldn't date Malfoy if he was the last guy on earth."

"Er… all right." I wasn't sure how I was supposed to take that. "Then, what are you doing here? And why does my aunt think you're Scorp's girlfriend?"

"I have no idea why she thinks that." Elaina still looked utterly amused. "As for why I'm here – I've never attended a wizard wedding before, so Scorp offered to bring me. In fact," she added, thoughtfully, "I've never attended a British wedding, either. So, I guess, this is killing two birds with one stone."

My heart felt a million times lighter. So, with a grin, I told her, "Three birds. The bride's half-French, so the wedding is going to have some French influences."

"Fantastic!" Elaina exclaimed happily. She sat down on one of the beds. "I hope you don't mind, but I put my things away in the dresser and closet already. I left you plenty of room, though."

"No problem," I told her sincerely. I had always liked Scorpius's partner. I put my luggage in a corner, resolving to unpack later. Flopping onto the other bed, I looked over at her and strove for a casual tone. "Ah… so, how are things going at work?"

Elaina saw right through me in an instant. "You want to how Scorp is doing, don't you? Well, he'll probably kill me for saying this, but he's completely and totally miserable without you."

I gazed at her in amazement. "Then why won't he return my owls? Or my other messages? I even sent my Patronus after him, but he didn't respond!"

Elaina thought about that for a second and then winced. "Wait – your Patronus? Is it a… horse type thing?"

"It's a unicorn," I answered. At her odd look, I said, "What? They're majestic and pure animals."

Elaina held up her hands. "I wasn't going to say anything! I mean, mine's a rooster! I can't judge. The reason I was asking was because your Patronus didn't make it to him. I got it instead."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You missed him by mere seconds, actually." Elaina winced again. "Sorry, I didn't really figure out what it was saying and I was in middle of an assignment. So, I just kind of blew it away. I didn't get that you were looking for Scorpius or I would have told him."

"It's okay," I assured her. "It was a long shot, anyway."

Elaina studied me for a moment and then said, briskly, "Look, I know I've got a big mouth. Scorpius is my partner and, you know, partners talk. We have to do _something _while we scope out some random Death Eater's house for three days straight. So, at the risk of giving you too much information, I'm going to at least say this: y'all need to get into a room and sort this out."

I let out a huff of frustration. "Why do you think I've been trying to get a hold of him? _He's_ been the one avoiding _me_. _He_ broke up with _me_."

"He's scared." Elaina looked incredibly serious. "He thinks you're going to break his heart. So, because he's a guy and guys are stupid, he decided that he needed space."

I eyed her skeptically. "He told you this? Using those exact words."

"Not those exact words, no," Elaina admitted, with a disarming grin. "But, trust me, I know what's going on inside that blonde head of his. Take my advice – go find Room Twenty-Four and lock yourself in with him until he sees reason."

"Twenty-four?"

"Twenty-four."

I nodded and started to get up, right as the door opened and James walked in.

"Lils, Victoire wants to see you. Something about your dress." He stopped when he saw Elaina sitting on the bed. And then gave her a huge grin, while he messed up his hair a bit. "Why, hello. I'm sorry, I didn't realize we had one of our very distant Veela cousins staying in this room."

Elaina frowned and looked at me in confusion. "Veela? What?"

Rolling my eyes a bit, I introduced them. "This is James, my brother. James, this is Elaina."

My brother grinned at her. "What a pretty name. It suits you."

Elaina, however, didn't look like she was going to be charmed so easily. Her response was to glance between the two of us and she said, with a frown, "Y'all are related? You look nothing alike."

"Something that I'm grateful for every day," James answered, lightly.

Elaina frowned some more and she shot him a dirty look. "I don't know why. Lily's gorgeous."

I snorted in laughter at the expression on James face.

My brother glanced in my direction, looking a little confused. "Ah… all right. If you say so."

"I do say so," Elaina responded, tartly. Then, she added, "I have four older brothers and one twin brother."

This time, I looked her way with amazement. I hadn't known that. "You have five brothers? And here I thought I had it bad with just two."

"Trust me, I have it worse," Elaina told me, with disgust in her voice. "I also have a younger sister. Poor girl's still in Texas. She might have it even worse than both of us combined."

James, who was not used to being ignored by a single woman for this long, cut in, "It's not that bad. We're perfectly nice to Lily." He gave me a look, as if to say that he expected me to jump in and agree with him.

"Yes, absolutely." I nodded fervently. "Like the time he got together with my best friend and dumped her… which made her leave the country and never talk to me ever again."

James scowled. "Are you never going to get over that? I told you – that wasn't all my fault!"

Elaina watched the two of us, amusement in her eyes. "Right. I see you're an awesome brother."

"On that note, I have to go," I announced, edging towards the door. With a look back towards Elaina, I said, "Feel free to hex him or whatever you need to do to get him off your back."

"I won't need to," she assured me, with a wink. "I'm perfectly capable of crushing a man's skull with my bare hands. No wand necessary."

Raising my brows, I shot a look towards my brother, who appeared to be looking even _more_ interested in Elaina. Shaking my head, I walked out, closing the door behind me.

**xxx**

I hesitated for only a second before I knocked on Scorpius's door. A moment later, he opened it. As usual, he was dressed head to toe in dark clothes. It was a dark charcoal grey jumper with black slacks this time. Suddenly, I felt immensely underdressed in my own jeans and dark blue t-shirt, with my hair up in a very loose ponytail.

"Lily." Scorpius stared down at me with an indefinable expression. "I thought I'd see you down at the dinner."

"Really? Were you planning on responding to my owls at dinner, then?" I asked, feeling irritated.

"No. Actually, my plan was to take a page out of your book and avoid you altogether," he shot back, a thread of annoyance in his tone.

Blinking in confusion, I said, "What?"

Scorpius let out a sigh. "Never mind. What is it, Lily?"

I let out a sigh of my own. Clearly, this was already not going well. "I need to talk to you." I looked at the door pointedly. "Can I come in?"

Scorpius opened the door a little more, his hand resting on the top edge of the frame. Since I'm quite a bit shorter than him, I just walked under his arm and into his room.

Casting a glance around, I noted that his room was very similar to mine. There were two beds, and the décor was very feminine. Crochet coverlets on the beds, lace curtains, and flowered wallpaper. Not exactly Scorpius's type, but the inn where Teddy and Victoire were getting married was an old fashioned bed and breakfast. Apparently, it held some sort of significance for Teddy and Victoire, so they'd insisted on having it here, even though it was too small. Even though my family had reserved all sixty rooms, the old place was still bursting at the seams.

With a raised brow, I turned back towards him. "Who are you sharing with?"

"James," Scorpius answered shortly. Then, he frowned and crossed his arms. "Albus is sharing with Sabena, so I guess your aunt figured James was a good substitute."

"How did Albus manage that?" I knew that my parents never let Albus and Sabena share a room at the Hollow. Not even after their engagement.

"I think he booked his own room." Scorpius didn't move from the open door and looked across the room at me. "Did you come here to talk about room assignments?"

"No." I took a deep breath and admitted, "I came to apologize, actually."

That caught his attention. He closed the door shut behind him and turned to face me. In a quiet voice, he answered, "Go on."

This was proving to be more difficult than I thought. It wasn't like I hadn't been thinking about it for over a month now. Running everything over in my mind and rehearsing what I was going to say. But now, with him right there and staring at me with those stormy grey eyes… my mouth was dry and my heart was pounding. What if he didn't believe me? Or care? It was clear he'd already decided that I had been an interesting diversion for a while, but I wasn't really worth the effort.

"Lily?" Scorpius prompted, while he gazed at me searchingly.

"I…" I looked down at my scruffy trainers and said, in a rush, "I'm sorry about what I said about your parents. I didn't mean to come off sounding like a snotty arse. It's just that I had no idea what to expect and there were the elves and it was a mansion and the… it was just all so different from what I thought and…."

"It's okay," Scorpius interjected, cutting me off mid-explanation.

I braved a quick glance towards him. He was leaning against the door, his arms crossed negligently, and he appeared to be completely unflustered. "It is?"

"Well, I'm not…." Scorpius paused and appeared to consider it. "I've given it some thought, too, and I realized that we didn't talk much about my family, did we?"

"No, we didn't." In fact, every time I'd ever broached the topic, he'd change the subject or he'd make some light remark and move on. Based on everything I'd heard about the Malfoys growing up, I'd just assumed that Scorpius's family was as bad as people thought they were. "But, still. I shouldn't have made assumptions. I feel badly about that, Scorpius."

"Well, I should have told you more about them and me." Scorpius shrugged and pushed away from the door. He assessed me frankly and pointed out, "You asked me several times. It's just that I don't like talking about it." He gestured towards one of the beds and said, "Sit down. I'll explain."

I settled on the bed and listened, while he told him a little bit about what it was like to grow up as a Malfoy and how people reacted to him in the Wizarding world. Some of the stories he told made my heart ache for him, and for what he'd been through.

"So, you see," Scorpius finished, "it's been my experience that conversations about my family don't usually end very well. And that's why I chose never to talk about it with you. Things with us were new and… I just didn't want this to overshadow it."

Inexplicably, I felt hurt. "But you should have known I wouldn't be like that. We were in a relationship – obviously, I wouldn't judge you or your family."

His lips curved up in a half smile. "Lily, you weren't exactly the epitome of openness, either. Why'd you hide it from your family and friends we were dating?"

Struck by the truth of his words, I stared at him for a second. "Fair point," I conceded. "But you need to understand. You think it's hard for you growing up as a Malfoy? It's not that easy growing up a Potter kid, either."

Scorpius's brow rose sardonically. "Oh, yes. Please do explain how being the child of the greatest hero in the Wizarding world was a trial for you, Lily."

"It was!" I exclaimed. "Why do you think James is so idiotic? My father found the love of his life in sixth year, and James is hell-bent on never settling down. Albus? He had to deal with my dad AND James, so he just went into Slytherin so people wouldn't compare them. And me?" I shook my head glumly. "Forget Harry Potter. Do you know what it's like being the daughter of Ginny Weasley-Potter? The seventh child, first girl born in seven generations…."

Scorpius, who had settled down on the other bed, sat up a bit straighter. "What?"

"My mother," I explained tersely, "is the seventh child, first girl to be born to the Weasleys in seven generations… which apparently lifted some sort of curse or something. Meaning, she's an incredibly powerful witch. And, to make things worse, she captured the heart of the bravest wizard that ever lived. When she was only fifteen! And took part in the fight against Voldemort…." Rolling my eyes, I leaned forward to add, in an annoyed tone, "And then went on to become the youngest Chaser in Harpies history! And she was freaking brilliant at it, of course." Crossing my arms across my chest, I made a face. "I can't even tell a Bludger from a Beater."

"One is a person and the other is the object that the person hits," Scorpius said, in a very serious tone.

I glared at him. "It's not funny. All this and she had to be bloody beautiful, to boot. And I'm nothing like her! I didn't inherit any of it."

Scorpius answered, in a thoughtful tone, "Actually, I think you look a lot like your mother. But you're prettier."

Gratified by his compliment, I couldn't help but smile a bit. "That's sweet. But not true. You know, when we were growing up, everyone thought Rose was my mother's daughter? Sometimes, my mum and I would go out with Aunt Hermione and Rose to tea or something. And, always, people would stop my mum and tell her how gorgeous her daughter was. Only they weren't talking about me. They were talking about _Rose_."

"Then people are blind," Scorpius replied, his voice a little rough. "I can tell you that you're much more attractive than Rose."

I poked my finger through one of the holes in the coverlet and avoided his gaze. My heart was in my throat and I swallowed. Unable to help myself, I blurted out something that I'd thought for a long time, but never dared to articulate. "I guess you would know. You did choose her first."

There was silence in the room after I said that. Finally, I risked a peek at him and saw that his brows were furrowed in confusion and he was frowning.

"Rose?" Scorpius finally said. "Do you mean when we were fooling around in _fourth year_?"

Now, I was feeling silly. But, I nodded and said, in a small voice, "Yes."

Scorpius's response was to burst out laughing. "Oh, that's… dear dead Salazar Slytherin, you can't be serious? I was a fourth year!" When he saw I wasn't laughing, he attempted to sober up, but there was still glint of amusement in his eyes. "Lils, you were a second year. I felt bad enough lusting after you when you were in third year. Bloody hell, I'd have gouged my own eyes out if I'd wanted you when you were _twelve_!"

This time I was confused. He'd lusted after me when I was thirteen? But, not to be diverted, I pointed out, "You still didn't need to chase after Rose. Just like all those other blokes."

"I didn't chase after Rose." He shot me an arrogant grin. "Quite the opposite, in fact."

"Lovely," I muttered under my breath. "That just makes me feel so much better."

"It should," Scorpius said, with a slight smile. "I really don't know why it would even bother you. All we did was just snog like crazy for about -." He broke off when he saw the expression on my face and finished, rather hastily, "And it was _terrible._ Neither of us knew what we were doing."

In spite of myself, I let out a light laugh. "Look, it's not a big deal. It's just…." I thought about how much I wanted to reveal. This was something I'd never discussed with anyone. Not even Jemma. "You have to understand, I'm the second youngest in a huge family; the youngest girl. From the first second I started at Hogwarts, I was compared to every single relative that's ever passed through those halls. And, no matter what I did, they'd all done it before me and they'd done it better."

"That's not true," Scorpius interjected. "You're smarter than all of them combined."

"That's just because I study more than all of them combined," I pointed out and then continued, "And you've met my family: they're nosy and they're opinionated. They all think they know what's best for everyone. And… yeah… it's hard. It's hard being Rose's younger cousin. And…." I hesitated. "It was hard being the second Weasley girl to date you. And that kind of played a part in me not telling my family about us. Because I just KNEW that people would compare and wonder and…."

My voice trailed off. Because, as I said it all out loud, I realized how stupid I sounded.

Scorpius was no longer looking amused. Instead, he looked very concerned. "Lils, I never knew…." He stopped and ran his hand over his mouth, while he studied me. "I knew people compared you to Rose, but you always seemed all right with it. I didn't know it bothered you so much."

"Normally, it doesn't," I answered lightly, with a shrug. "I mean, I was sorted in Ravenclaw; that helped. And I never went up against Rose in Quidditch, so that wasn't a big deal. But… yeah… when it comes to guys? You're the first guy I ever went out with that once had a thing with Rose. Or any of my cousins, for that matter."

"Or your brothers," he added in, quietly.

"What?"

"You never go out with anyone who's a friend of either James or Albus," Scorpius pointed out.

Scorp had figured that out? I had a rule. So, I admitted, "Uh… yeah… I don't do that." Then, I smiled weakly and amended, "Well, I guess I did, once. You."

Scorpius stared at me for a long moment and then said, in a low tone, "And I hope you will again."

My heart skipped a beat. I thought we were done and we going to go back to being semi-friends, who bumped into each other a lot, but didn't talk much. My only goal in coming here had been to get him to not hate me. I tugged at a loose strand of my hair nervously, I said, "You mean, you...?"

"No, actually, I was thinking about that bloke Albus works with," Scorpius answered, drily. "He's been asking about you."

Letting out a frustrated sound, I tossed a small pillow in his direction. "I believe I've explained that I have enough male relatives who think they're funny. You really don't need to be added to the list."

Laughing a bit, he caught the pillow easily. "Lils, I think we both messed up. I think we've known each other for so many years, we just assumed we knew everything about each other."

I gave that some thought. "Yeah. I think so. But, I guess, we didn't know much at all, did we?"

"So, I propose we try again." Scorpius shot me a devilish grin. "Now, don't break out in a rash just because I used the word 'propose'. The word can also be used as a synonym to _suggestion_."

Scowling a bit, I pointed my wand at him. "Next time it won't be a pillow, Malfoy. And I won't be aiming for your head."

"Go for it, I've been practicing my shield charm ever since I saw what you can do with one," Scorpius replied, with a wink.

"Well, if you're not going to be serious about this…." I got up and started to walk towards the door.

Scorpius caught my arm, easily, and pulled me down on the bed next to him.

"You really have no tolerance for teasing, do you?" Scorpius was laughing.

I shot him a dirty look.

"All right, all right. I'll be serious." Scorpius looked down at me, but he was smiling. "Let's try this again, but – this time – let's be honest with each other. No more making assumptions. And no more hiding how we feel."

"All right." Staring back up at him, I chewed on my lower lip thoughtfully. "In that case, I think I should be honest and tell you that your house elves really bother me."

Scorpius looked taken aback. "What? Why? You have a house elf – Kreacher."

"Kreacher is free," I reminded him. "Yours aren't."

"But, Lily, most wizard families' house elves aren't free." Scorpius shook his head. "Your family is an exception. Not a rule."

"But so what?" I pulled my feet up on the bed and crossed my legs, while I faced him, gazing up at him earnestly. "How can it not bother you?"

"Lily…." Scorpius let out a sigh. "Look, I really like your family. You know that. But… sometimes… they see the world differently than most people. And, in your case, that's all you know."

I frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…." Scorpius appeared to choose his words carefully. "You haven't travelled much. You haven't seen the world beyond the Weasleys and the Potters much, have you?"

"What are you talking about?" I answered, stiffly. I was started to feel a little offended. "Jemma was my best friend at school – and she was American!"

"Yes, and notice that she always visited you for the holidays. You never went to go visit her," Scorpius pointed out. "Look," he added, hurriedly, "I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I understand – you have a wonderful family. In fact, I was envious of your family when I was growing up. I'm just saying that you've led a bit of an insulated life. And that, sometimes, the rest of the world doesn't see things the same way you all do."

"But, Scorp," I answered, slowly, "I don't think that the house elves should be free because my family says so. I think they should be free because it's the _right thing to do_."

Scorpius let out a sigh and raked his hair back. "My father changed the working conditions of our elves when he took over the business, Lils. They're well fed, with decent housing and properly treated. I can't go in there and change it that drastically; I'm not even the head of the company."

"Company?" I stared at him blankly. "What are you talking about?"

Now, he looked like he regretted he'd said anything. "Our factories… most of the labor force is made up of house elves. I thought that was what you were talking about."

"No, I was talking about your house." I scrambled off the bed. "Your factories employ slave house elves?"

Scorpius winced and looked irritated. "They're not slaves. And, frankly, it's not uncommon. Most factories in the Wizard world are full of elves."

"Your family owns over fifty percent of them," I reminded him. "If they freed the elves and started to pay them wages, then that could lead to the other -."

"That's not how business works, Lily," Scorpius interrupted. "How in Hades is my father supposed to go to his investors and tell them that he's freeing the elves and cutting profit margins down by twenty three percent?"

Tilting my head to the side, I studied him. "You did the math."

"Yes, I did." Scorpius shrugged. "When I was fifteen. We learned about elves and goblins at Hogwarts and, during one of the breaks, I went to go talk to my father about it. He told me to make him a case, and I tried."

"And you couldn't." I flopped down on the bed across from him and confessed, "I don't understand your world, Scorp. Your shoes cost more than my entire wardrobe. Your flat is wicked expensive and you don't even have to pay for it. There are people who work their whole lives and can't afford a place like that. You moved into it fresh out of Hogwarts. And this is all just… just _normal_ to you."

Scorpius leaned back on his arms. "I suppose it is. It's the world I grew up in; I never thought about it." His lips curved into a wry grin. "Being a Malfoy comes with some bad; it always just makes sense to embrace the good, I guess."

I gave that some thought. It made sense, but I still felt a hint of unease when I thought about the differences between us.

"Lils, I'm still the same person you've always known," Scorpius said, as though he sensed my thoughts. "Maybe there are things you didn't know about me, but I'm still me."

I smiled back at him. "Well, I suppose I'll find out. But," I added in a warning tone, "The conversation about the elves is not over."

"Yes, I expected it wasn't." Then, he added, with a smile of his own, "Now, since we're being honest, I think I should tell you that I want more."

"More?" I repeated, faintly. "What do you mean?"

"We need to tell your family. No more sneaking around," he stated firmly.

"Oh." I let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, all right. I expected that, anyway."

He gave me an exasperated look. "What did you think I meant?"

"Nothing, nothing," I said hurriedly. "So, yes, we'll tell my family. Right after the wedding."

"No." Scorpius stood up and grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet, too. "Now. We'll tell them at dinner."

"Now?" I squeaked. "My _entire_ family is down there. As in, every single Weasley and Potter for the past three generations." I paused and added, "Uh… other than Roxanne, apparently."

"I know. Perfect timing, isn't it?" With a grin, Scorpius tugged me out the door. Right when we got into the hall, he stopped and turned to me. Pushing me up against the wall, he said, with a wicked grin, "But first…."

Bracketing both arms on either side of me, he leaned down and caught my lips with his, kissing me slowly and thoroughly. I melted against him, my hands sliding up his chest to wrap around his neck. He trailed his lips over my jaw, down my neck and started to nibble at a particularly sensitive spot right along the edge of my collarbone.

Sucking in my breath, I sank my fingers into his hair and leaned back against the wall. "Or… you know… we could just go back into your room. Forget dinner. I'm not that hungry, anyway."

With a low chuckle, he said into my ear, "Later."

"I knew it!" There was a loud _crack_ and Scorpius was flung back a few metres from me.

Letting out a gasp of surprise, I pulled out my wand, right at the same time that Scorpius pulled out his. I turned and saw James standing there, along with Elaina. Elaina just looked amused, but James had his wand out and was pointing it at Scorpius.

"I see you two made up," Elaina stated, with a happy grin.

Scorpius was pointing his wand at James and he said, evenly, "You have something to say, James?"

James, rather unexpectedly, started to laugh and put his wand away. "This is brilliant. Al owes me five galleons. I'm off to go collect." As he started to walk past me, James said, "I told you I'd gloat one day, Lils. I am going to have so much fun with this."

Scorpius shot me a confused look, and I just shrugged weakly. "James. Who knows what he's about half the time?"

"C'mon, Malfoy, I'm starving," Elaina said. She came up between us and hooked her arms through ours. "And I have a feeling that dinner is going to be _very _interesting."

**xxx**

As we walked towards the dining room, Elaina let us go and went on ahead. I stopped at the entrance and looked in, hesitant. The room was large, but looked small with my entire family there. It actually looked like the smaller version of Hogwarts' Great Hall. Five long tables had been set up, side by side, and each table was crowded with an assortment of relatives and friends of all ages.

With a sinking feeling, I noted Aunt Luna and her husband, and also Uncle Neville and Aunt Hannah. They were crowded around the end of a table where my parents were sitting, along with Rose's parents. Everyone was laughing about something and drinking quite a bit of firewhiskey and wine.

Scorpius cleared his throat next to me and grasped my hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "Come on."

I let him pull me towards the end of the long table where Al and Rose were sitting with Sabena and Daniel, Rose's boyfriend.

Rose looked up when we approached and she grinned. "Oi, Lils, you can settle this for us. What year was it that James turned my cat purple? When we were eight or…?" her trailed off and her eyes widened, zeroing in our joined hands. "Ahh…. Um…."

Albus's brows puckered in confusion. "Why are you two holding hands?"

Sabena elbowed him in the ribs hard and he winced. "I think it's brilliant," Sabena told me, with a bright grin. "I was hoping you two would finally figure things out."

My brows rose. "Er… thanks."

Daniel, who was a nice bloke who kept to himself mostly, just said, "Hullo, Lily. 'Lo, Scorpius."

We both smiled at him and nodded.

Scorpius and I both slid onto the bench, right across from Rose, who was still doing a very good impression of a puckerfish, with her mouth opening and closing. Scorpius and I attempted to ignore her, as we helped ourselves to some of the excellent food at the table.

"Rose, are you all right?" Scorpius finally asked, when it became a little uncomfortable to just sit there under her intense scrutiny and silence.

"When… how… where…why… what…?" Rose shook her head and got a hold of herself. "Forget it, just start with WHEN."

Scorpius and I exchanged a look.

"Well," I started, a bit hesitantly, "That's rather difficult to explain…." I glanced towards Albus, who appeared to be taking it rather well. "Al, Scorpius wanted to tell you, but I made him wait."

Albus nodded, looking utterly unconcerned as he took a long pull of his butterbeer. "Well, I always told Scorp I wouldn't stop him. But I am rather surprised you agreed, Lils."

"What?" I glared at Scorpius. "Al _knew _about this?"

"No, no," Scorpius said, quickly. "He knew I was going to ask you… a long time ago… we had a talk…."

Before I could say anything, my parents came by the table, and said hello to everyone and asked Sabena, Scorpius, and Daniel if they had settled in okay. When my parents were satisfied that the guests were all doing fine, my mother turned her attention to my brother.

"Albus Severus," my mother said, with a stern look. "I found out about the room. You and Sabena cannot stay together! I've moved Sabena to Rose and Dom's room, and you'll stay with James and Scorpius."

Albus flushed a bright red, but not from embarrassment. He was clearly annoyed. "Mum, that's ridiculous. I'm twenty-one years old and we're engaged!"

"Your grandparents are here!" My mother admonished. "It's just not done. Right, Harry?" She cast a sharp look in my father's direction and he immediately straightened.

"Er… yes. Your mother's right," my dad stated, in a firm voice and with a decisive nod.

Al scowled at him. "You always say that. Even when you don't know what she's on about."

My father shrugged and grinned at him. "That, son, is the key to a sane marriage. You'll understand soon enough."

"Harry!" My mother said admonishingly, but she was laughing.

Al looked like he was about to argue some more, but Sabena jumped in. "It's fine, Mrs. Potter. I understand." She smiled at Rose, who didn't smile back. "I have no problem rooming with Rose and Dom."

"Speak for yourself," Rose muttered under her breath. "Room's not big enough as it is."

If my mother heard Rose, she made no indication of it. Instead, she smiled at Sabena and said, "Thank you, dear. I knew you'd understand."

My brother must have decided that he was tired of the attention being on him, because he suddenly announced, in a very loud voice, "Mum, Dad… did you know that Lily and Scorpius are seeing each other?"

The entire the length of the table went quiet and they all turned to stare at me. Not just our end, but the entire table, which consisted of Victoire, Dom, Louis, Teddy, Molly, Lucy, Hugo, Elaina, Lysander and Lorcen, along with an assortment of dates that some of them had brought to the wedding. There were people there I didn't even know.

My face heated up and I didn't need to look in the mirror to know that it was bright red. Scorpius, for all that he'd been the one to pressure me to do this, didn't seem to be holding up too well, either. He definitely looked more than a little anxious as he looked up towards my father to gauge his reaction.

My parents, for their part, took in the interested expressions of the people staring at them down the table. And then they looked at each other, exchanging a bemused look.

Finally, my mother said, "You owe me ten galleons. Pay up."

My father shook his head. "No. You said that they would bring each other to the wedding as a date. They didn't. They came separately. This doesn't count."

"Wrong," my mother argued, holding out her hand. "I said we'd find out before the wedding was over. I win."

"Gin, cheating for ten galleons? This is so beneath you." My father's eyes were sparkling with laughter behind his glasses as he took out his money-bag and held it under my mother's nose. As she reached for it, he pulled it away. "Seriously. Have some self-respect."

My mother shook her head, fixing him with a look. "I won fair and square, Potter. Hand it over."

Scorpius leaned and whispered, "Is your entire family raving mad? Or just hardened gamblers?"

"Neither," I said miserably. "They're torturers. And it's me they love to torture."

My father turned to both of us, at that instant, and grinned. "We've known for awhile. We were waiting for you to tell us."

"I figured that out on my own, oddly enough," I told him icily. "Thank you for betting on my love life and making this into more of a spectacle than it already is."

"No problem," my mother answered, crossing her arms and staring down at me with a smirk. "Now, if you had just told us, from the beginning…."

Letting out a deep, suffering sigh, I kept silent.

The entire table had been watching this with interest, perhaps because they thought my parents were going to throw a fit or something was going to happen. But once they saw that my parents were incredibly cheerful about the whole thing, they went back to eating and, soon, the noise around us was back to deafening levels.

My mother turned to my father. "I did win, you know. And I can get that money bag from you."

"Really?" His brow rose and he looked my mother over. "How so?"

"I was a brilliant Chaser in my day," my mum reminded him, with a grin.

"And I was a fairly decent Seeker in mine," my dad replied, with a smile.

"Is that a challenge, Harry Potter?" My mother got that look in her eye, where she looks like she can take on the world. "Challenge accepted."

"Wait, what…?" My father suddenly looked like he didn't quite understand what they were talking about. "What challenge?"

My Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione had just walked up at that moment. When they caught the tail end of the conversation, my uncle said, "Challenge?"

"Harry has just challenged me to a game of Quidditch," my mother explained, a bit gleefully. "And the winner gets the ten galleons he owes me."

"Oi, I'm in." Uncle Ron clapped my father on his back. "Haven't played in awhile, it'll be fun."

My father shot him an exasperated look. "Why are you encouraging her?"

"Encouraging who to do what?" My uncle George happened to be walking by, his plate piled high with various desserts. "Since it's you, Harry, I can only assume the 'her' in question is my dear sister, who's had you by your bollocks since the day you got married."

Before my father could respond, Uncle Ron told him, "We're playing Quidditch. Harry challenged Ginny. You in?"

Uncle George broke out into a grin. "Absolutely!" He looked down at his plate. "After dinner, though, right? I mean, a man's got priorities."

"Of course," Uncle Ron responded.

"Er… Ron," my father began, clearly trying to gain control of the situation.

"Oi, Charlie… Bill… you in?" My uncle George called out, as he walked towards their table. "Quidditch. Out in the field – Harry versus Ginny."

"I'm in," Uncle Bill called back to him and Uncle Charlie nodded gamely.

"Wait!" My Gran stood up and said, in her customary loud voice, "Not on the field where the wedding tent is going to be put up. If you children destroy that field–!"

"It'll be fine, Mrs. Weasley," Teddy called to her, in a reassuring voice. He leapt to his feet and looked toward my dad with a grin. "And I'm in. On Harry's team."

My father groaned and I saw him close his eyes briefly.

"I'm in!" Aunt Angelina stood up. I had noticed she'd been looking a little forlorn and quiet – probably because of the Roxanne situation – and now she seemed to perk up. "On Ginny's side, of course."

"I'll play, too," Victoire announced, clearly not going to be outstripped by her fiancé. "On Aunt Ginny's team." She tossed her shimmering blonde hair back over her shoulder as she gave Teddy a look that was part flirtatious and part challenge.

Teddy merely looked amused and said, in an affectionate tone, "Bring it on, love."

I made a show of pretending to gag and Scorpius gave me an exasperated look.

"Oh, I want to play." Rose shot up in her seat. "Aunt Gin's team, of course." She grinned at my mom, who shot her an identical grin back. They exchanged a quick high five and I tried not to think about how my mother brought the wrong baby home from the hospital.

My mom turned to my aunt Hermione and asked, "You in, Hermione?"

My aunt started laughing. "Uh… no. I can barely stay on a broom as it is when we're playing one on one. I have no intention of making a fool out of myself in front of everyone."

"You'll do fine, Hermione." My mother patted her arm. "It's just an issue of confidence."

"It's all right, I know I'm not a broom flying person." But then my aunt grinned wickedly and said, "I will, however, keep score. Merlin knows we can't trust anyone else in this room to do it."

"That's the spirit," my Uncle Ron said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, and then gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head. She smiled back up at him adoringly.

I almost gagged again, but this time for real.

My father turned to my mother with a pleading look in his eyes. "I can just give you the ten galleons, Gin. Is this all really necessary?"

"Scared of a girl, are you, Harry?" My mother made a great show of batting her eyelashes and sidled up closer to him, her ponytail swinging behind her. "That she's going to beat the great Harry Potter in front of everyone?"

Well, if there was one thing guaranteed to make my dad play it was issuing that kind of a challenge. My father is a fairly decent bloke, but he's still a bloke. And he's got pride issues.

Sure enough, my father stepped back, and shot back, with a scoff, "No. What I'm scared of is that I'm going to beat my wife within two minutes and she's going to make me sleep in the study for three weeks."

"Huh." My mother stepped forward again and grabbed his tie. "I promise you, you won't sleep in the study. Because _you're not going to win_."

This time, I did gag for real. I choked on piece of chicken as I tried to look away hastily. Years of experience had taught me what was to follow when my parents were looking at each other like that.

Thankfully, my brother also had years of experience and his mouth wasn't stuffed with food. "Hey," he said, standing up, with a look of disgust on his face. "There are children present, you two!"

My mother and father shot him a confused look. "Children?" My mother frowned. "What children?"

"US," he exclaimed. "We don't need to see this. For the love of Merlin, can you get a room? I mean, _honestly_."

My dad flushed slightly, but my mother looked completely unapologetic. She turned to my father and said, in a thoughtful tone, "You know, we should go check out the brooms. Make sure we have enough…."

"Right," my father cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. He grabbed her around the waist and started to push her towards the door. "We should go check the broom shed."

Broom shed? I remembered what my mother once told me. As they walked away quickly, I groaned and pushed my plate away. "That's it, I've lost my appetite."

"I think it's sweet," Sabena answered, with a smile. "That your parents still love each other that much, I mean. Even after they've been married for so many years." She turned to Albie and gave him a disgustingly sweet look. "I hope we're like that, too."

Albus smiled at her. "We will be, love." And then he leaned in to give her a kiss.

I let out another groan. Picking up a piece of bread, I threw it at my brother's head. "For the love of… get a room!"

Sabena and Albus broke apart. Sabena just laughed, but my brother threw me a disgruntled look. "We _tried_ to get a room. It didn't work."

"Oh, just kick Scorpius and James out," I told him airily, with a flick of my wrist. "It's not a big deal."

"Wait," Scorpius turned to me. "Then where am I going to sleep?"

"You can just room with me and Elaina," I answered. "You've shared with Elaina before, when you're on assignment, so I'm sure she won't mind. And we've shared a room -." I broke off when I saw everyone hanging onto every word with great interest. I flushed. "Uh… the point is, it's not a problem."

Of course, Rose couldn't just let it go at that. "Oh, do tell! When did this room sharing occur?" Rose smirked a bit and added, "Please tell me he's improved in the snogging department."

"Rose!" Mortified, I looked around to see if anyone else had heard.

Scorpius, though, turned to Daniel. "Has Rose improved in the snogging department? She used to do this thing with her tongue…."

Rose made a face and I smacked him. "Hey! Too much information."

Scorpius shrugged and Daniel just gave him a weak smile. "Uh… she's all right."

Rose shot him a disgusted look. "All right? Have fun sleeping with Hugo tonight."

"Hugo got someone to sleep with him? Will miracles never cease." James came up to us and plopped down next to Rose. He looked a little worse for wear. Grabbing a fork, he took a bite of Rose's trifle. "Who's the lucky girl?"

"It's Daniel," Rose told him. And then slapped at his hand. "Get your own plate."

"What took you so long?" I asked him. "You left so much before us."

"Got distracted," he answered, cheerfully and let out a dreamy sigh. "A bunch of Veelas came into the lobby right as I was on my way down. Had to help them take their luggage to their rooms. I'm chivalrous like that."

Al snorted. "Yeah, _chivalrous_. That's the word we were looking for."

James focused in on Al. "Oi! You owe me five galleons!" He pointed his fork at Scorpius and said, "Caught that one snogging our sister in a hallway."

I rolled my eyes while Al took out his money bag and tossed a few coins in James' direction.

Scorpius turned to Al with an annoyed look. "I can't believe you bet _against_ me."

"Sorry, mate," Al said cheerfully. "I really didn't think Lily would ever cave. She's got the emotional maturity of a five year old."

"Hey!" I cried out, "I'm sitting _right here_. And, for your information," I added, tartly, "_I_ asked _him_ out."

"Oh, that's so romantic!" Sabena said, with shining eyes. "Go on. Give us more details, then."

"Uh…." I exchanged a look with Scorpius and he leaned back, clearly enjoying my discomfort. He knew I couldn't very well tell everyone I asked him out after I made a drunken fool of myself and tried to molest him. "It was all very… uh… not much to say. He was… we needed to eat, right? So I asked him out. To eat. Dinner, I mean."

Everyone was quiet for a moment and then Rose said, thoughtfully, "Wow. Be still my beating heart. I mean, Scorp, you've quite a catch here. She needed to eat, so she asked you out to eat. "

"Actually, Lily is quite a catch," Scorpius responded, lightly. He slung his arm around my shoulders, while he grinned at Rose. "And it was the best dinner I've ever had. Being around Lily makes food taste better."

Albus looked at him with raised brows. "Overkill, mate."

But I shot Scorpius a grateful look and thought that if having a boyfriend meant that he'd go around defending me against my relatives, then I should have signed up for this a long time ago.

**xxx**

When we finally made our way out to the field, I saw that my parents had transformed it into a Quidditch field. They'd actually managed to conjure up goal posts and fixed them on either side. There were a long row of brooms to choose from, lying on the grass and I could see the various participants trying them out. A trunk was nearby, kind of vibrating, and I knew that it held the various balls necessary to play. I wasn't sure where my parents had managed to hunt one down at this time of night, but I didn't question it. My Gran was talking to my parents, rather loudly, and telling them they had better make sure to leave the field exactly how they found it when the game was over.

All around us, people were conjuring up chairs and sofas to be able to watch the game more comfortably. The entire wedding party was outside, in full force. Even the people who weren't playing wanted to see how the match would go. I heard Neville say to his wife, Hannah, that he would bet on Ginny's team winning.

Uncle Percy overheard and said, "I'm willing to wager three galleons on that, Neville. Harry was a fair seeker in his day. And Teddy is fantastic."

Within minutes, all the guests were jumping in and placing their own bets back and forth, amidst a lot of laughter and commentary.

Scorpius conjured us an overstuffed, plush love-seat and, as we settled into it, he looked at me curiously. "Who would you put your money on?"

"You mean in a match with my mum against my dad?" I gave it some thought. "Uh… neither. I learned a long time ago not to figure out the odds in that case. It can go either way."

Scorpius looked out across the field, where my parents were playfully attempting to prevent each other from getting the good brooms. "Your father won't just let her win?"

"Oh, Merlin, no!" Alarmed at the mere idea of it, my eyes widened as I stared at him. "My mother would hex him into oblivion. And my father would never do it, anyway. He hates to lose."

My uncle George stood out in the middle of field and put his wand to his throat. In an amplified voice, he announced, "All right, family and dear friends. We are gathered here today to celebrate the joyous occasion of Teddy and Victoire's impending nuptials. However, before we can do so, we must first celebrate the joyous occasion of Team Gold's victory over Team Red!"

In response, there were a lot of boos that came from my mother's side of the field, where she'd gathered with her team.

Uncle George ignored them. "All right, then. Let me list out the players, so folks won't be confused. Not that it won't be confusing enough, because half the people look identical from far away. Team Gold is led by the famous Harry Potter. He once defeated Voldemort – but can he defeat his own wife on a Quidditch field?"

"George, just get on with it," my father interjected, rolling his eyes. "We haven't got all night."

"Potter, I'm trying to drum up some excitement and tension, here," Uncle George responded.

"There's enough excitement, George," Aunt Angelina said, with a smile. "Just get on with it, will you?"

"All right, all right," Uncle George said. "Since my wife is making me, I guess I'll get on with it, then. On Team Gold, we have Harry Potter as Seeker; George Weasley as Beater; Theodore Lupin as Beater; Ronald Weasley as Keeper – not that I was FOR that decision, mind you, but Potter's his best mate; Albus Potter as Chaser; Hugo Weasley as Chaser; and Fred Weasley as Chaser – and I'm sure he'll do well, because if he doesn't, his father will hex him."

I saw Fred roll his eyes at his father, while Uncle Ron was glaring daggers at his brother.

"Now, on the other side," my uncle continued, turning towards my mother's group with a smirk, "is Team Red. It consists of James Potter as Seeker – who looks rather scarily like his father at the moment, and it's going to be interesting to see father and son race for the Snitch…."

"George. Honestly. Get on with it!" This time it was my mother who interrupted.

"I can't believe I'm the only one who appreciates the generational irony," my uncle told her, but he continued, "Victoire Weasley will play Keeper. Bill and Charlie Weasley are Beaters – bad decision on my sister's part, because they're both older than _Methuselah_. They're more likely to have their bones crushed by the Bludgers than they are to beat them."

I saw Uncle Charlie and Uncle Bill exchange an amused look and they laughed good-naturedly.

"And, next, we have the famous ex-professional Quidditch player, Ginny Weasley-Potter, who's to play – what else? – Chaser. Along-side Ginny is the most beautiful woman on the planet, Angelina Weasley. Oh, and Rose Weasley will play Chaser, as well. I almost forgot about her."

Rose groaned and called back to him, "Thanks, Uncle George. Love you, too."

He winked at her. "Your ego can handle it."

Rose grinned back. "True enough."

"Now, we'll go over the rules," Uncle George said, as the entire field groaned. We'd thought he was done. "Since we have a wedding to attend tomorrow, we decided that we couldn't play by standard rules. After all, the bride and groom need their rest. So, there's a time limit of two hours or when the Snitch is caught, whatever happens first. The team with the most points at that time will be declared winner. It will come as no surprise to anyone that Hermione will keep score. Neville Longbottom has graciously agreed to serve as commentator."

Aunt Hermione walked up to him and said, in a wry tone, "Thanks, George. I think. Anyway," she put her wand to her own throat and began over the rules very quickly. She finished up with, "And, Teddy, you may not change into someone else during the course of the game to confuse people. And no other funny business from anyone. Anyone who cheats will have to answer to me." She gave everyone a stern look and they all looked properly intimidated. Then, she pulled out her wand and opened the trunk, releasing the Snitch and the Bludgers. She took out a Quaffle and tossed it up in the air. "Off you go then!"

Every player immediately took off into the warm summer sky, each one doing their own part. My mother immediately made two goals in quick succession and then shot my dad a triumphant grin. He ignored her and focused on finding the Snitch.

Snuggling back into the comfy sofa, I watched them play silently, attempting to keep up with what was going on. Even though Neville was commenting rather frequently, it was difficult to keep track. That was one the reasons I never really got into Quidditch. Everyone moved so fast, and there were so many people, it required too much concentration and focus to know what was going on. Of course, in my family, it was blasphemous to say that, so I typically kept that thought to myself.

After a while, I started to zone out and even closed my eyes. It had been a long day, and I felt it catching up to me. From far away, I heard Scorpius say, "You want a blanket?"

"Sure," I mumbled, as I burrowed in deeper into the cushions a soft cloth settled over my body. The next thing I knew, someone was shaking me awake. "Wake up, Lils. I can't believe you missed everything!"

Blinking my eyes open, I saw Rose standing over me. My head was resting against a very hard surface and when I sat up, I saw that I'd been sleeping with my head on Scorpius's chest. In front of my entire extended family.

Flushing a bit, I straightened and asked Rose, "Uh… who won?"

"Your mother," Scorpius answered, his grey eyes sparkling with amusement. "James caught the Snitch, and your mother scored more than the three Chasers on the other team combined. They trounced your father's team."

With a grin, I looked over towards my mother's team, who were in the midst of celebrating. They had used their wands to hoist James up in the air and they were singing, "Potter is our King!" He looked incredibly happy, and I knew that most of his happiness came from beating our father.

Glancing around, I saw that neither of my parents were anywhere to be found. Which more than likely meant that my mother had gone after her gold. And Merlin knew what else. I tried not to think about it. Getting to my feet, I said, brightly, "All right, well… I'm off to bed."

"Oi, don't forget our deal," Al reminded me, as he came up to us, his hand in Sabena's. "Scorp's staying with you and Elaina. James is probably going to go off and find some Veela."

"Oh, right." Suddenly, I felt uncomfortable about my own suggestion. "Uh… are you sure? What if Mum and Dad find out?"

"Mum and Dad? Let's face it, they're not going to know anything that's going on." Al looked a little disgusted as he said this.

It was true. I felt rather repulsed myself. "Right."

Scorp put his hand on my lower back as we walked, silently, back into the inn with Rose, Albus, Sabena, and Daniel in tow. I felt every nerve ending tingle with awareness each step of the way. Once we got inside, we headed towards my room, branching off from the other two couples. The room was empty; we'd beaten Elaina to it.

I turned to face him, slowly, and – for whatever bizarre reason – I felt shy and awkward. It made no sense, given that we'd had sex plenty of times and even spent the night together two other times. But, now, with my entire family in the rooms surrounding ours, it just seemed to be at a whole other level. Maybe Albus was right and I _did_ have the emotional maturity of a five-year old.

"So," I said, clearing my throat, fixing my gaze on some point past his shoulder. "That was a nice game, huh?"

"I suppose." Scorpius gave me an odd look. I didn't blame him. "Although, you slept through most of it."

"Yes, I was knackered." I headed towards my suitcase and, with a flick of my wand, moved it onto my bed. Unzipping it, I started to sort through the clothes while I explained, "I had a deadline. Finally going to get an article published. I mean, it's buried on the third page, but it's a start, right?" I pulled out pajama bottoms and an old t-shirt, along with the small pouch that held my toothpaste and toothbrush.

"Yes, it is." Scorpius had been watching me and when I turned to face him, my things in my arms, he smiled at me. "I should go get my own sleeping things, I guess. Before Al casts an impenetrable spell or something."

"Right." I nodded.

But he didn't move. Instead, we both stood there, staring at each other. Finally, Scorpius moved closer to me, eliminating the distance between us with a few long strides. He reached out and tugged on a long, wavy strand that had fallen out of my loose ponytail. He stretched it out all the way and when he let go, it bounced back. Gooseflesh broke out all over my body in response and I shivered.

I was just about to toss my things onto the other bed and grab him to snog him senseless when he broke the silence. "Lily… I want you to have dinner with my family again. Try to get to know them."

Utterly thrown off, I stared up at him confusion. "Um… ah… okay."

"I can't promise you Quidditch matches on a summer evening or even half the excitement your family seems to generate," he said, in a wry tone. "But… they're decent people. I want you to give them a chance."

"Of course." Clearly, this had been bothering him. I smiled reassuringly. "Look, you have to put up with James, right? It's the least I can do."

Scorpius gave a pause at that, but he smiled. "Right."

Then he moved even closer to me and slid his hand across my nape and cupped my head, pulling me up to give me a hard kiss. The things dropped from my arms as my hands stole around his waist, my fingers curling into the soft fabric of his jumper. Without stopping or breaking away, he stepped back until the back of his legs hit the other bed and he fell back, with me following on top of him. Straddling him, I fed him kiss after kiss, while his hands roved down my back and then under my shirt, his fingers seeking out the back of my bra.

He'd just managed to get to it when I heard someone exclaim, "Sweet Mary, mother of Jesus! Why didn't you LOCK the damn DOOR?"

Letting out a sigh of frustration, I jumped off of him, right as he scrambled out from under me. Without giving it much thought, I tossed a pillow onto his lap as we both looked towards Elaina.

"Sorry," I said, feeling a little flushed and knowing that, once again, I was bright red. Damn my bloody Weasley genes.

Scorpius seemed to be handling it better than me. Which made me wonder how many times he'd been caught in this particular sort of situation. "Sorry, Elaina," he said to his partner apologetically. "Did you know I was staying here tonight?"

"Yeah." She gave us both a dirty look, but it was clear she trying not to laugh. "But you're not staying with Lily on _my_ bed." She pointed her wand towards the empty space on the other side of my bed and, saying a quick spell out loud, she conjured up a cot. "THAT'S where you're staying, partner. And," she added in a warning tone, "There better not be any hanky-panky. I'm a light sleeper. And I don't need that kind of trauma."

Scorpius and I exchanged a look.

"Right, of course," I answered, with an emphatic nod. "We'll be good. I promise."

"Well, I'm going to get my things," Scorpius stated. He turned to me and gave me a quick kiss right before he apparated away.

When he was gone, I used the opportunity to quickly change into my sleeping clothes, while Elaina was focused on getting her own sleeping clothes out. By the time Scorpius came back, we were both in our own bed, settling down for the night. After we all said good night to each other numerous times, with Elaina issuing a few more threats for good measure, we all fell silent.

Even though I was exhausted, I couldn't sleep. Apparently it was just me, because I heard a steady snoring sound coming from Elaina's bed almost immediately. After tossing and turning for another ten minutes, I whispered to Scorpius, "Are you awake?"

I heard rustling from his cot and he said, in an amused voice, "Yes."

I turned towards him, onto my right side, my hand under my cheek. "Is she always this loud?"

"Yeah." He laughed softly and said, "_Lumos_." His wand cast a small, soft glow that only covered my side of the room; Elaina's side was still dark. "She's also not a light sleeper, even though she thinks she is."

Sitting up a bit, I looked across at Scorpius. He was wearing an old t-shirt and, under there, I knew he was wearing a pair of loose jogging pants. He looked like he needed a shave already and, for some reason, it made him look younger instead of older. Maybe because he didn't look as polished as he normally did. He looked more… approachable. And that gave me courage. "I need to tell you something."

"What?"

"I think I'm in love with you," I told him, solemnly. My heart was racing and I held my breath. I had never said that to anyone before. In fact, I'd never even really thought I ever _would_ say that to anyone.

Scorpius didn't laugh, like I expected him to. Instead, in a very serious tone, he answered, "That's good. Because I think I'm in love with you, too."

The sick feeling in my stomach lessened and was replaced by a sort of giddiness. With a wide grin, I leaned across the divide between our beds and lightly kissed him. When I'd settled back into my own bed, he extinguished the light. After a few moments, I felt his hand find me and he linked his fingers through mine.

With a smile, I closed my eyes and fell asleep, still holding onto his hand.

**xxxxxxxx**

**A/N:** Thanks for reading & reviewing. Hope you guys are enjoying it. The next part is the last part (I believe) and it's called _**The First Time I Knew**_.

**Cacata:** _Hopefully, you found Lily a little less maddening in this chapter & saw where she's coming from. Glad you're enjoying it! I hope these two crazy kids make it work out, too._

**Dangme:** _Thank you!_

**TwilightObsesive:** _Thanks! I tried to make the updates that way on purpose. I always hate it when authors give you the "other side" of a story, but it's pretty much identical to the first side you already read. I tried to really minimize the overlap and tried to fill the blanks as much as I could. I'm glad you picked up on that and enjoyed it. And, yeah, I should do that Harry/Scorpius one-shot when I'm done with this. Maybe also throw in the Ginny/Harry convo where they make the bet._

**CatAnne78:** _Thank you! Yeah, Lily was being a hypocrite. I'm glad you think they're made for each other. Hope you enjoyed the update!_

**Pen7sword:** _Thank you! Yes, they did start out as drabbles & I honestly only meant to write a set of drabbles to begin with. Very short & sweet. But, then, slowly the characters and world just took over & now I'm struggling NOT to go into too much detail. Yeah, I'm really enjoying Lily/Scorpius fics and the stories that can come from that pairing. But, oddly enough, most people seem to be into Rose/Scorpius. There are 5000+ fics for R/S and there are less than 400 for Lily/Scorpius. I really don't get it._

**Dizzy88:** _Thank you! I hadn't meant to write Scorpius's POV. That just came out from… I have no idea where. I don't think I'm going to write his POV again… we'll see. I really want this story to be less than 10 chapters._


	9. Knew, Part 1

_A/N: It turns out that I'll have to divide the last part, "The First Time I Knew", into three section. So sorry! But there's a lot to cover in this part and I wanted to make sure I did it justice. And I kind of hate to see this story end. (Although, I think I'm going to tackle another Lily/Scorpius fic after this one ends. I'm having a lot of fun with this pairing and feel like the possibilities are ENDLESS.) Again, thanks to everyone who is reading and a special thanks to those who took time to leave a comment! I'm so glad you're enjoying it. _

xxxxxxxxxx

_The first time I knew…_

I was in love with Scorpius Malfoy was three weeks after my twentieth birthday.

We'd been dating for about a year and it had been, for the most part, quite wonderful. Scorpius had known my family for years, so he fit in rather seamlessly. Uncle Ron had made some odd comments, but Aunt Hermione just smacked him each time and told him to shush. My cousins, for the most part, really didn't care. Since there's so many of us, there's always a revolving door of boyfriends and girlfriends at the Burrow; most of them just lumped Scorpius in the same category. James, true to his word, teased me mercilessly and brought up Scorpius at the worst possible moments. Albus really didn't care, in any way, but – then again – he didn't care about much other than Sabena. They were focused on planning their wedding, which was still quite a way off (they wanted to wait until Albus had finished up his apprenticeship at Gringotts and Sabena had finished her Magical Law Enforcement schooling and exams).

My parents were quite accepting of it all, but they did refuse to let Scorpius spend the night at the Hollow anymore. That made no sense to me, because he'd stayed there his entire life. But my mum's response was to say, "It was one thing then. It's another thing now." Given what she'd once told me about wanting to go at it in a broom cupboard, I thought she was being rather hypocritical, but she wasn't to be budged.

Ironically, Scorpius's parents made no fuss if I spent the night. Of course, they had fifteen guest rooms and his mother put me in a separate wing clear on the other side of the Manor, but still. In fact, his mother seemed to adore me. She was constantly inviting me to tea or dinner, and insisted I call her Astoria. She took me on a tour of the mansion (over the course of several days, since a person can't see it all in one go) and showed me every nook and cranny, while she told me stories about generations of Malfoys before Scorpius. Apparently, there was some sort of a spell or something that had been cast on the Malfoy family about twenty generations back. Only one child ever lived and it was always a boy. Fascinated by that, I told her about the similar curse on the Weasleys and how my mother's birth had broken it.

Astoria was very involved with quite a few charities and started to take me along to some of her functions. I thought it was utterly boring and hated every pompous second of it, but I didn't really think I could refuse without hurting her feelings. And Scorpius seemed delighted that I was getting along splendidly with his mother, so I didn't want to make him to feel like it wasn't the case.

All in all, I thought things were going rather well. Even my job and Scorpius's jobs were going well, although Scorpius's work seemed to take him away more often than not. But since I'd grown up with my father, I didn't think it was that big of a problem.

This all led up to Astoria asking me for a favor one day. Apparently, she was involved in a fundraising dinner that was to be held in a few weeks' time. The event was a mother/daughter fashion show and she needed either to sponsor a mother/daughter team or participate in the fashion show itself.

"So, Lily, I don't have a daughter and I was thinking that it would be fun if we did it together," she told me, one afternoon, while we were having tea together.

I spluttered, my tea going down the wrong way. Setting down the delicate cup, I looked across the room at Scorpius, who was engrossed in a conversation with his father about Malfoy stock prices and the financial markets, so he hadn't heard a word.

Letting out a sigh, I turned to her with a polite smile fixed to my lips. "Astoria, what a lovely idea. But… to be honest… that's not really my cup of tea." Glancing down at the table, I said, weakly, "Pun not intended."

Astoria's face fell. "Oh, are you sure? I've never been able to participate in these sorts of things, because I don't have a daughter. Quite a few women are bringing their daughter-in-laws, so I thought it would be perfect for us. And I have no one to sponsor, so…."

_Daughter-in-law? _A huge part of me wanted to leap up and find a paper bag to breathe into at the thought. There was no way I was ready to be lumped into a category titled 'daughter-in-law'. Scorpius and I had only been dating seriously for a year! And I was just barely twenty.

"Well…um… er…." I thought about it and then offered, "You can also sponsor a mother/daughter team? How about I get my mother to do it with me and you can sponsor us?"

I expected her to be offended that I would do the show with my mother, but not her. But, instead, she looked delighted. "Why, that would be wonderful! What a perfect solution!"

Picking up my cup of tea, I smiled back at her weakly. Now, I just had to figure out a way to convince my mother to do it.

**xxx**

"No, absolutely not," my mother stated, flatly.

We were in the kitchen, at the Hollow, and my mother was putting away some groceries. She flicked her wand and the icebox opened, while ice cream cartons and milk sailed towards it.

Grabbing a green apple from the bag, I jumped onto a counter, and took a big bite. "Whewee noewt?"

My mother cast me a disgusted look. "Chew first; then talk. Honestly, you and your brothers…."

I chewed furiously and swallowed. "Why not?"

"I hate those things, Lily. You know that." With an exasperated expression, she pointed towards the bag of fruit and guided it towards the fruit bowl she kept on our kitchen table. "All the pomp, the snobby society women… and the fawning just because of the name 'Potter'. It's ridiculous and I hate it. That's why I just send them a cheque and I'm done with it."

"But this is different," I pointed out. "You'll be doing this for me, not them."

My mum stopped putting away groceries to turn to face me, her hands on her hips. "No, I'll be doing it for Astoria Malfoy. Which is why _you're_ doing it!"

Taken aback by the vehemence in her tone, I said, "What does THAT mean?"

My mother stared at me for a long moment and shook her head. "This isn't even your type of thing, Lily. I would expect something like this from Rose, but -."

That got my ire up. "You would do it for Rose, then, wouldn't you?" I jumped off the counter, my cheeks hot with anger. "You wouldn't hesitate if it was for Rose!"

"Oh, that's rich," my mum rolled her eyes and her voice rose, "The only reason you're doing this is because your _boyfriend's mother_ asked you to do this."

"So?" My own hands were at my hips and I was glaring at her. "Big deal!"

"Big deal?" My mother looked furious. "What is _wrong_ with you? We've barely seen you for a year; every other night you're over at the Malfoys having dinner. I couldn't even cook you a birthday dinner – you said you were too busy at work and then went off with Scorpius." Her lips were pressed into a straight line so tightly that they were white and her freckles stood out. "You come to the Hollow for the first time in months and for what? To ask for a favor for Astoria Malfoy. Have you started calling her mum yet, or did you at least remember I'm the one who gave birth to you?"

My jaw dropped open in surprise. And then my old resentments flared up, hot and furious. "At least she enjoys my company more than Rose's. After all those years you chose Rose over me. 'Oh, Aunt Gin, play with me… teach me how to be a brilliant Chaser like you…'," I mimicked my cousin. "Maybe it was nice to spend time with a woman who didn't think I was a freak of nature because I hate Quidditch!"

My mother sucked in her breath. "I will not apologize for spending time with my niece. I have no idea why you're jealous of her – she's your friend! And you know full well I never cared that you hate Quidditch. I think you're bloody well perfectly fine the way you are, except when you're acting like a spoiled brat, which is NOW!"

"WHAT is going ON in here?" My father entered the room and he raised his own voice, so he could be heard over us. "I can hear both of you all the way in the study!" He looked between the two of us, clearly bewildered. "Gin, why are you two shouting at each other?"

"Why don't you ask your daughter?" My mother turned to him, her eyes blazing. "And _you_ put away the groceries. I'm done." With that, she swept out of the room.

My father turned to me questioningly. "Well?"

"Talk to your wife," I said, shortly. "I'm going home."

Before I could apparate away, my dad stopped me, raising his hand. "No, you're not. I'm not asking my wife; I'm asking my daughter."

Letting out a huff of frustration, I stared at him defiantly and crossed my arms.

Raising his brows, his pointed his wand towards the icebox and two chilled butterbeers came sailing out. One came towards me and I automatically caught it, while he grabbed the other one.

"Sit down." My dad pointed towards the kitchen table and then he sat down himself, right across from me. "What is going on with you and your mother? I thought these shouting matches would end when you were no longer a teenager." My father said the last part with a bit of a smile.

I was not amused. "It's her fault. I just asked her for a favor and then she just went off on Scorpius's mum for no reason…." Under my breath, I muttered, "If _Rose_ had asked, she wouldn't have gone off."

"All right, then. One thing at a time." With a tired sigh, my dad ran his hand through his hair, messing it up more than it already was. James always does that, too, but he does it on purpose. My dad does it without realizing it. "First of all, your mother has been having some problems with the amount of time you're spending with the Malfoys."

"What? Why?" I frowned at him and toyed with the paper wrapper on my butterbeer bottle. "I thought you lot liked Scorpius."

"We do like Scorpius," he answered emphatically. "But we don't really know Draco and Astoria all that well, do we? And what I did know of Draco – all those years ago – well," my father paused, "it's been a long time. I'm sure he's changed. I hope he has."

"He has," I said reassuringly. "At least, I think so. He's always been nice to me."

"Yes, but the thing is…" my father hesitated. "You have to see this from your mother's side, Lilyflower. I think your mother doesn't know exactly what to do here. She feels like she's losing you. You're growing up too fast."

"Losing me? What?" I rolled my eyes. "What does she expect? That I'll sleep in a nursery my entire life? I didn't see her having these breakdowns when Albus moved in with Sabena. Or with James when he acts like a prat. She treated them all right, didn't she?"

"She's closer to you than she is to James and Albus," my dad replied.

"No, she isn't." Shooting him a look for disbelief, I took a sip of my butterbeer. "She thinks Albus is perfect and James' has got her wrapped around his little finger."

Unexpectedly, my father started laughing. "Funny. They say the same thing about you."

"Well, they're wrong," I answered, darkly.

My father shrugged and took a sip of his drink. "You're all wrong."

"Of course you're going to say that."

Leaning back against the chair, he studied me for a minute. "Lils, your mum… this is uncharted territory for her. You know I don't have any family; so she's never really had to deal with the idea of in-laws before. I don't think she expected it to be this hard; and, whether she has a right to be or not, I think she's jealous."

I stared at him blankly. "That's ridiculous."

"I agree, it is," my father said with a nod. "But jealousy is always ridiculous. Just like your feelings about Rose; it's never made sense, but there you have it."

Rolling my eyes, I answered, impatiently, "Not that part. I'm talking about the in-laws part. Scorpius's family is NOT my in-laws."

"Of course they aren't," Dad responded, with a bit of a grin. "Thankfully. But you both do seem to be headed in that direction."

I suddenly started to feel that panicked feeling again. "No, we're not! I promise you, we are not that serious!"

"Lils," my father gazed at me searchingly, his green eyes looking a little troubled behind his glasses. "We've barely seen you for the past year and whenever you do come over, you've got Scorp in tow. You've had more dinners with his family than your own. More than half the time you don't even stay at your own flat. If you don't call that being serious, then what DO you think is serious?"

"I don't know," I admitted to him. "I don't understand why it has to be one way or the other. Just because you and mum decided, at bloody age sixteen, to get married doesn't mean I need to do that."

My father shot me a grin. "Been reading the old Rita Skeeter articles, have you? Your mother and I did not decide to get married at age sixteen. In fact, at age sixteen, I was rather convinced I wouldn't live to see twenty."

"You know what I mean, Dad. You married at her twenty, by the way," I reminded him.

"I was twenty-one, she was twenty," he corrected me. "And, of course I did. She was off being a professional Quidditch player. I knew I had to make my move or she'd go off and find some stupid Quidditch player to ride off on a broom with…." My father gave a self-deprecating grin. "Your mother was fairly popular in her day. I reckoned I better marry her before she came to her senses and realized she could do better."

I made a face. "You don't really believe that, do you? You know I'm one of the few members of our Neanderthal family that actually READS our history books. You're Harry bloody Potter. You had girls lined up in queues to even talk to you."

"Don't believe everything you read, Lils," my father responded, lightly. "Much of that is exaggeration."

I didn't fully believe him, but I dropped it. "Besides, I'm not exactly sure I feel the same way about Scorp or that he feels that way about me. This idea that we can't do better and that THIS is it." I had once asked my mother this question, but now I asked him, "How did you know? That Mum was it for you? I mean, she's rather annoying – why'd you pick her?"

"Don't say that about your mum." Dad shot me a reproving look. "I… uh… that's a good question." He rubbed at his scar absentmindedly, like he was giving it some deep thought. "I was in sixth year… I'd just spent the summer at the Burrow, like I usually did. She was…." My dad seemed lost in his memories for a second and then he turned to me, "I don't know. She was just Gin, I suppose. Funny, brilliant, really nice and – of course – she was really pretty. It's hard to explain."

I nodded slowly and said, in dry tone, "Clearly."

Dad looked a little exasperated and uncomfortable. "Lily, guys don't think about this stuff. It just happens and we go along with it. If you want more details, you need to talk to your mother."

"That's not going to happen any time soon," I muttered under my breath.

My dad shot me a knowing look. "Oh, it'll happen soon enough. You two can't stay mad at each other long."

**xxx**

As usual, my dad was right. My mother hunted me down later that week at my flat and, in a rather stiff tone, actually apologized to me. That resulted in me breaking down crying and apologizing to _her_ and we hugged, while she patted me on the back. After a few moments, she pulled back and told me that she would do the fashion show with me.

"Are you sure?" I asked uncertainly. "I mean, I know it's not your kind of thing -."

My mother shrugged and cut me off, "It's fine. I'll do it for you. And, I feel it's about time Astoria and I got to know each other better."

Since my mother didn't know her at all, I thought the term 'better' was rather relative. But I didn't respond.

**xxx**

So, a week later, I found myself standing in a dressing room, wearing a formal black ball gown, while my mother attempted to fix my unruly hair.

"Just one more pin, Lils," she said, as she stuck another pin into the bun, rather forcefully.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed, shooting her long, straight hair a dirty look. "Seriously. I had to inherit your bloody eyes? And not the hair?"

Mum pulled back to gaze at me critically. "Your eyes are gorgeous, sweetheart. And your hair is lovely." When I reached up to tug at a curl that threatened to get loose, she smacked me on the hand lightly. "Don't touch it. It'll come undone."

"Oh, there you are, Lily!" I turned and saw Scorpius's mum hurrying towards us.

Astoria stopped right in front of us and looked me over. "You look wonderful. I'm so glad I was able to get the black gowns for you; it off-sets your coloring beautifully, Lily."

I saw my mother make an annoyed face, even though she'd said the exact same thing a few minutes ago. "Er… um… this is my mother, Astoria. Ginny Potter."

Astoria turned to my mother with a gracious smile. "Yes, of course. It's so nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Potter. I've heard so _much_ about you from Lily."

_She had?_ I didn't talk about my family much with Scorpius's family, so I was little taken aback by this. But then I saw the expression on my mother's face and the genuine smile that lit up her eyes. Given that my mother seemed happy to hear I'd been talking about her, I went along with it.

"Well, thank you," Mum answered, with a bright smile. "Lily's told us a lot about you, as well." This was also a lie, but I didn't say anything. "And, of course, we love Scorpius to bits. I was just thinking the other day that we should have you over for tea."

I shot my mother a confused look. She had not been thinking anything of the sort. But Astoria looked pleased as punch at the thought, so I kept quiet.

Astoria stepped back and looked over my mother's outfit with a smile. "You look gorgeous, Mrs. Potter. I'm so happy you were able to volunteer."

"Thank you, I was happy to help," my mother answered, with an easy grin.

I looked over at my mother and had to agree with Astoria. Since we'd both been assigned black, she was wearing a long, sleek black evening dress made out of silk. It had a slit up one side that showed off one leg. Even at the ripe old age of forty-six, my mother still had a slender figure; probably because of all those years she played Quidditch. So the dress showed off her ample curves and tiny waist to perfection. She'd also bothered to style her hair, for the first time in months, and it was sleek and straight, going all the way down to her waist like a perfect auburn waterfall.

Then, Scorpius's mum added, "Now I know where Lily gets her striking looks from. Other than the hair, she's your exact replica!"

Startled, I looked Astoria's way. I was just about to disagree, when my mother responded, with a genuine grin, "Thank you. Sometimes, it feels so strange when I look at Lily. Like I'm seeing myself at that age. Harry tells me he feels much the same way when he looks at James." Then, she added, thoughtfully, "Although, I do love her hair. I've always wanted curly hair."

"Isn't that just the way?" Astoria responded, with a light laugh. "I always wanted straight hair – and blonde hair, to be honest. I hated this color." She patted her dark hair a bit self-consciously, which was swept up in a perfect chignon.

"Oh, I wanted hair your color," my mother confessed. "Funny, isn't it?"

Just then, a wizard in purple robes came hurrying to us, looking rather stressed. "Potters, is it? You're next. Please, go wait towards the right of the stage."

Astoria turned to us with a smile. "All right, I'll see you at the dinner, then."

As my mother and I went to take our place, to wait our turn, I whispered to her, "What was that about? You know it's Rose that looks like you; not me."

Mum shot me a perplexed look. "Are you daft? Your cousin is the spitting replica of your Uncle Ron. She's an Amazon with blue eyes and no boobs! And do I look like your Uncle Ron to you?"

"Er… no?" I rolled my eyes. "She's got your hair."

"Yeah, I suppose." My mother gave it some thought, "But so does every other Weasley. You lucked out. You took after your father's mother. I knew naming you Lily was a good idea."

"I thought I took after Gran," I told her, feeling incredibly lost in the conversation.

"My mum?" My mother looked scandalized. "No, no. Her hair is bright orange. You have about fifty different colors in your hair. It's much prettier than just orange."

Before I could respond, the man in the purple robes said, "You're on, Potters. Do try not to trip, will you?"

My mum laughed and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the stage. I couldn't help but laugh, too.

**xxx**

My mother was true to her word, and she invited Astoria over for tea the following week. I wasn't invited, so I have no idea what transpired there, but my mother seemed to really enjoy herself with Scorpius's mum. So when Astoria invited my parents over for dinner, including me, my mother accepted the invitation.

And that's how I found myself standing in front of the Malfoy Manor with both my parents, waiting for Ezki to open the door.

Mum was fiddling with my father's tie. "Honestly, Harry, why can't you just leave it alone? You've worn these since Hogwarts, haven't you? Why is it so difficult?"

"I always wore it loose then, didn't I?" Dad tugged at it uncomfortably. "You put it on too tight."

"I do not." But she loosened it slightly. And then she looked up at him anxiously, her hands resting on his chest. "Are you going to be all right, Harry?"

My father looked down at her and grinned wryly. "Well, the last time I was here, I was being held in the dungeon with Ron and Luna, while Hermione was being tortured upstairs by Bellatrix Lestrange. I happened to disarm Draco, which led me to defeating Voldemort by utter chance. But, yeah, I don't find this awkward at all."

My mother and I exchanged a bemused look.

"Uh, Dad?" I said, hesitantly, "You might not want to mention all that, all right?"

"I know." My father shot me an annoyed look and tugged at his tie again.

At that moment, the door opened, but it wasn't Ezki on the other side. It was actually Mr. Malfoy.

"Harry. Ginny. Lily." He nodded at each of us in turn and moved aside to let us in. Once we were inside, he leaned down to give me a quick kiss on the cheek and took the bottle of wine from me that I was holding. "Come in… follow me."

Mr. Malfoy led us towards the large drawing room in the back, where Scorpius and his mother were sitting, talking to each other. Once we got there, I saw my father hesitate at the entrance as he gazed all around the room. After a second, my mother seemed to realize he wasn't right behind her and she went back. Taking his hand in her own, Mum squeezed it reassuringly and smiled up at him. Then they walked in, hand in hand, as one unit.

Taking that all in, it was only at that moment I realized how difficult this must be for my father. For us, the Second War wasn't even a distant memory – it was just something we read about in our textbooks. But for my father, he lived it. And this room was a reminder of what he'd been through. Glancing at Mr. Malfoy, I saw that he also looked a little pale and just as uncomfortable as my father. Perhaps he, too, was lost in similar memories.

At that moment, Scorpius's hand slid across my lower back and he leaned in to kiss my cheek. "Lily, my mother told me the fashion show was a resounding success."

Forcing a smile to my lips, I answered, "Yes, I think everyone seemed to enjoy it. My mum and I didn't win, though."

He grinned down at me, his eyes sparkling. "Then, the judges were blind."

I grinned back. "You weren't even there."

"I don't need to be there to know you'd be the most beautiful girl in the room," he answered, in a very sincere tone.

"Smooth, Malfoy. Very smooth," I replied, rolling my eyes. Then, I went to go say hello to his mother, while his father got everyone drinks.

We all settled down at various places, Scorpius right next to me on a small love-seat; my parents sat close by on a matching sofa, while his mother sat on a large armchair, with his father perched on the wide arm right next to her.

Silence descended on the room, as we all looked down at our drinks. It took a second for me to realize that we all seemed to be waiting for Scorpius's dad and my own dad to say something. I'm sure my expression must have mirrored everyone else's expression, and that I wasn't the only holding my breath.

After a few long minutes, Mr. Malfoy broke the silence. "Well, Harry, it's been a while."

"Yes, it has," my father replied. He took a sip of his firewhiskey and added, "Things going well for you?"

Mr. Malfoy nodded stiffly. "Yes. And you?"

"Yes, can't complain."

Mr. Malfoy looked around the room and seemed to realize that we were all watching their exchange with great interest. His lips twitched and then curled up into a half-smile. "Potter, perhaps we should take our drinks to my study?" He looked towards Scorpius and added, "Scorpius, why don't you take Lily to your room? I'm sure Ezki will come get you when dinner is served." With a nod towards Astoria, he stood up and said, "Love, we'll leave you and Ginny to it."

My father stood up, as well, and followed Mr. Malfoy out the door. We were all silent after they left and looked at each other uncertainly.

"Will it be all right, do you think, Ginny?" Astoria asked my mother, looking more than a little alarmed.

"It'll be fine," Mum said, in a reassuring voice as she patted Astoria's hand. "I told you, Harry has the ability to… ah… set aside… things. In a way most people can't."

That appeared to be our cue to leave. I grabbed Scorpius's arm and apparated us to his room.

We landed on his bed, since my mind immediately went there when I visualized his room in my head, and he laughed.

"Hey, I wanted to hear that conversation," he exclaimed, sitting up on the bed.

"Between our mothers? No thanks." I shuddered, pulling my legs towards me and wrapping my arms around my knees.

"Good point. The one between our fathers is probably much more interesting," Scorpius answered, thoughtfully.

"No, that's even worse!" Aghast, I stared at him. "Why on earth would you want to know what they're saying to each other?"

"Come on. You're not the least bit curious to see what Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter would say to each other after almost three decades?"

Of course I was. But there were things that curiosity did to cats, especially in the Wizarding world, and I had no intention of ending up like one. "No thanks," I told him. "I'm rather shocked he agreed to come."

"He must really love you," Scorpius said, a bit absent-mindedly. Then he looked me over and added, with a grin, "You look rather nice, by the way."

I glanced down at my attire. A tight, black pencil skirt with a dark green silk blouse, and heels. "Ah… thanks. I came directly from the office. I had no time to change."

Scorpius looked me over again and said, with a wicked grin, "All we need is a librarian's robe and glasses. And that'll be one fantasy down." Then he leaned over and began to kiss me, pushing me back on his bed. As his wandering hands began to pull my shirt out of my skirt and his lips trailed down to my neck, I lost myself in the sensation and forgot what I was going to say to him.

**xxx**

A week or so after the dinner - which actually went quite well, all things considering – I was sitting at my desk, at work, furiously scratching out the next article I was going to submit to our new editor. Our last editor had moved to the different newspaper several months ago. While our new editor, Rina, was tough, I also got the sense she was a bit fairer to the youngest members of the staff.

One of my co-workers, Natalie, was hurrying by my desk and she stopped when she saw me. "Lily, didn't you hear? Staff meeting right now. Rina just called it five minutes ago."

"Oh," I looked up at her with surprise. "I was downstairs getting a cup of tea. I must have missed the announcement. Thanks." I got up and followed her to the large staff room in the back, wondering what it was about. Rina hated staff meetings and very rarely called one.

After we'd all found our places in the room, Rina stood up and got straight to the point. "As I'm sure most of you are aware, our colleague, Randolph Hinkerman, passed away a week ago. He was the travel columnist for the _Daily Prophet_ for the past twenty years and he will be sorely missed."

I exchanged a confused look with Natalie. This was old news; we'd already devoted a huge spread to his demise in the obituary section. Why would Rina call a staff meeting for this?

"What this means," she continued, pacing back and forth, "is that we have an opening. We need someone to take over the column." Everyone began to sit up straighter and there was an air of excitement in the air, as people began to murmur to each other. "Now, before we go out and begin to interview senior columnists from other papers, I wanted to give YOU all a chance."

Much like everyone else, I was focused on her with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.

"So, I'm going to assign each of you a country. You have one month to visit that country on the _Daily Prophet's_ knut and bring me back a travel article," Rina announced. "If any of you can convince me to give you the job, it's yours. I won't go outside to hire. Your assignments are posted on a sheet on my door. Good luck."

There was a mad rush for the door, as people sprinted to find out where they were going. I held back, knowing that the parchment would still be there in a few minutes, and – this way – I wouldn't get trampled.

Rina caught my eye as she walked past. "I'll be interested in seeing what you bring me, Potter. I've really enjoyed the last two articles you've submitted. And you have a good handle on writing descriptions; that'll come in handy for this type of column."

I flushed with pleasure, but she walked away before I could respond. After a few seconds, I almost ran towards her office and ran my finger down the length of the long parchment affixed to the door. When I got to Potter, I saw the word "Brazil" written right next to it.

"Brilliant," I whispered, already picturing the sun-drenched beaches in my mind's eye and thinking about how I would describe the water in my article. I could hardly wait to tell my family and Scorpius. This was exactly the opportunity I'd been waiting for.

**xxx**

It turned out that my entire family was impossible to get a hold of. My mother and father were out of town, and Al and James were nowhere to be found. This was something I wanted to tell everyone in person, so I just resolved to tell them that weekend at our family dinner.

Scorpius and I were having dinner together that night, anyway, so I waited until we were sitting at his kitchen table, tucking into the pasta I'd thrown together, before I said, excitedly, "I have the most brilliant surprise for you."

Scorpius looked up from his plate with interest. "That's so funny. I have a surprise for you, too. I was waiting until after dinner."

"Oh." Tilting my head to the side, I looked at him teasingly, "I bet you mine is better."

Scorpius raised his brows. "You Potters and your need to bet about everything." He got up from the table and disappeared into his bedroom. When he came out, he was holding a small white box, with a velvet purple ribbon wrapped around it. He placed it down next to my plate and went back to his seat. "There's mine. What's yours?"

Curious, I picked up the box and quickly tugged at the ribbon, then opened the top. Inside, there was a small silver key. Utterly confused, I looked across the table at him. "What is this?"

"A key to my flat," he explained.

"I already have a key to your flat," I reminded him. "And I can apparate in and out of here whenever I want."

"I know." Scorpius looked at me and then said, "This is a more symbolic gesture. See, the thing is – remember that promotion I told you about? The one that would allow me to do less travelling and take on more local assignments?"

He'd been talking about nothing else for the past month or so, and he'd had to study for some exams, so I knew what he was talking about. "Yes, of course."

"Well," Scorpius stated, with a happy grin, "I have it on good authority – your father, namely – that I'm going to get it. Which means, I'm going to be around more."

I beamed back at him. "That's great," I said sincerely. I knew how much he hated the travelling. "But what does this have to do with the key?" I looked down at the box with a confused frown.

"I was thinking about it," Scorpius said, slowly, as he looked at me intently. "And I think it would make more sense if you moved in. I mean, think about it. You're already here half the time, and you pay an obscene amount of rent on your flat. I pay nothing here, since my family owns it. And you don't even like your roommate."

I blinked at him, silently, for a moment. Everything he said made sense on paper, but it just seemed too sudden. "Scorp, we've only been dating for a year. Barely a year, even. Don't you think it's a little soon to be living together?"

"Technically, it's more than a year, if you count the time before," Scorpius pointed out, with a smile. "And we've known each other for years. And, now, well… our parents are actually speaking to each other, apparently getting along, and it just seems like the next logical step."

I stared at him blankly. "The next logical step to what?"

Scorpius let out a groan. "I knew you'd be like this. You are such a commitment-phobe. You're always going on and on about James, but you're no better."

I sucked in a breath and my eyes widened. "Oohh, take that back, Malfoy. I am nothing like James."

"Yes, you are," Scorpius insisted. "I've been thinking about this. I think you're absolutely dead set against getting serious, because you're afraid you'll turn out like your mother. Married at age twenty."

"That's not true!" I shot back, automatically.

A tiny part of my mind said, '_what if he's right, Lily?'_ The other, much saner part of me, immediately said, _'shut it, Lily, he isn't.' _

Scorpius had no idea I was talking to myself in my head and asked, in a challenging voice, "Then what's the problem? You know it makes sense for you to move in now. How long do you think is long enough?"

"The problem," I answered, slowly, "Is that I may not even be living in London." I said the last part a little triumphantly, as if to say, _'See? This has nothing to do with my mother'_.

Scorpius looked utterly taken aback. "Come again?"

Feeling a rush of excitement flow through me, I explained the situation to him and finished up with, "And the best part is that my editor actually thinks I have a good shot at this." I grabbed my plate and went to the kitchen to wash up.

As I ran the hot water and began to wash the dishes, Scorpius picked up his own things and followed me, placing his plate and glass on the counter.

"So, what you're saying is that you're going to GO for this column. You're actively going to pursue a _travel_ column, Lily."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious," I said to him dryly, while I scrubbed at one of the plates. I wish I'd paid more attention when my mother tried to teach me more than the basic cleaning spells, but I was hopeless at it. So, I always had to wash up the Muggle way. "That's kind of the point."

"Why?" He gave me a hard stare. "You just told me that this means you'll be moving from country to country, with almost no breaks in between. For at least three years. And you honestly expect me to believe that you're not running away from commitment?"

"Well, I'll come back to London at least once a month," I pointed out, a little defensively. "And, honestly, I wasn't even thinking about our relationship. It has nothing to do with that. Just think of all the places I'll see! The people I'll meet! Why does it have to be about US? Why can't it just be about ME?"

"Because your _life_ is here," Scorpius snapped, suddenly looking a little furious. "A life I thought I was a part of…. You expect me to just say 'have fun' while you go off, leaving it all behind?"

I set down a clean glass in the drying rack a little more forcefully than necessary. "No, that's not what this is about." Turning to him, I shut off the water. "I would have thought you'd be all supportive of this. Aren't you the one who thinks I haven't seen enough of life? Outside of the Weasleys and Potters, I think you put it?"

"That's…." Scorpius shook his head and gave me a dirty look. "You're twisting my words. I didn't mean that you needed to go off gallivanting all over the entire world for years!"

"Why not?" I glared up at him, starting to feel incredibly pissed off at the double standards. "YOU go gallivanting all over the world for your job all the time! You don't see me stopping you!"

"Yes, and I'm trying to change that," he responded, in a testy voice. "Why do you think I went for this promotion? It certainly wasn't for the extra paperwork! I did it so I could be in London more often. For YOU."

I threw the dishrag on the counter. "Well, I didn't ask you to do that!"

"I know. But, obviously, I did it because of us," he answered, his voice rising.

"Why?"

"Because I love you and when a person loves someone, they actually want to spend time with them!" Scorpius retorted. "As mad as that sounds to you."

"Well, I love you, too, but I really don't see what one has to do with the other," I shot back.

Then, we both stopped and stared at each other, the words seeming to hang in the air between us.

Scorpius took a step back and raked his hand through his hair. "Uh… you've never said that to me before."

"Neither have you," I answered, faintly. I gripped the counter behind me. I hadn't expected to say it; in fact, I didn't know I _felt_ it until it just came out. But now that it was out there, I felt slightly relieved. And happy about it. I smiled up at him faintly and chewed on my lower lip anxiously. "Um… this is not how I imagined this moment."

"No," he agreed, with a nod. "I didn't, either." Scorpius hesitated and then said, looking concerned, "Lily, if you want this, then I'll try to support you. Merlin knows I'd be a fool to try to stop you. But… I don't think it'll work. I think you're making a mistake."

I crossed my arms and gazed up at him, feeling troubled by his words. "I want you to support me in it, anyway. I would for you."

Nodding slightly, Scorpius took a few steps closer to me and put his arms on either side of my waist, setting his hands on the counter behind me. "All right." With a small smile, he said, "I'm not going to lie; I hope you don't get it. But, if you do, I won't stand in your way."

"I guess we did promise we'd be honest with each other," I answered, evenly. Looking up at him, I noted the tense set of his jaw and the odd light in his eyes. I knew it was the best I could hope for at the moment. Then, I wrapped my arms around his waist and burrowed in, letting him hold me for a long while.

**xxx**

A few weeks later, I sat on the bench in my favorite part of the Hollow; in the gardens surrounding my parents' house. Reading the crumpled piece of parchment in my hands for the umpteenth time, I tried to figure out what to do next.

"There you are," Mum said, as she walked up the pathway. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Come help me with dinner; everyone should be here in an hour or so."

"Right, I'll be right in, Mum," I replied, still staring down at the paper in my hands.

"What's that?" Mum asked, looking down at me, curiously.

Realizing there was no point in keeping it a secret, I told her, "It's the official note from my editor. I got the column."

My mum stared down at me in surprise for a moment and then she broke out in a huge grin. "That's… absolutely brilliant!" She reached down to hug me and then said, "Well, this means this is now a _celebratory_ dinner!" Then, she remarked, in a frank tone, "Why is it you're not looking celebratory? You should be ecstatic!"

"I am ecstatic," I answered, knowing full well that I sounded anything but. "But the thing is…." I hesitated. Would my mother think I was being silly?

"The thing is…?" she prompted.

"Scorpius," I admitted. "He's not exactly overjoyed about this prospect. Seems to be under the impression it means I'm breaking up with him."

"Well, are you?" My mom sat down on the fountain across from me. "I mean, long distance relationships are hard. No one would blame you two if you decided to part ways."

"Do you think we should?" I looked at her anxiously. "Part ways, I mean?"

"No, I don't," my mother answered, lightly. "But that doesn't mean I think you should stay together, either. I have no opinion on THAT one way or the other. I think you should do whatever makes you happy, love."

"But what if both make me happy?" I asked her, in a miserable tone. "I want to be with him, but I don't want to give this column up, either. Why do I have to choose?"

"Who says you do?" My mother shrugged. "I played for the Harpies while your father and I were engaged and even after we were married. It wasn't easy, but we did it."

"That was different," I replied, rolling my eyes. "You were engaged to be married. And, later, you actually _were _married. Of course you didn't break up. And, if I remember my timeline right, you had to give up Quidditch because you had James. That's not exactly the ideal I'm aiming for."

"Hhhmmm… oh, yeah," my mother answered. With a grin, "Clearly, I've blocked the baby portion of my life out." At my expression, she laughed. "Just joking. Listen, Lily, if you two are meant to be, I'm sure it'll work out."

"Lovely, Mum. I could have gotten that advice from a fortune cookie."

Mum made a face at me. "What I'm saying is, don't put too much pressure on yourself and your relationship. These things usually have a way of working out. You'll see."

"All right," I answered, dubiously.

Then, I got up and followed her back to the house to help her with dinner. Albus, Sabena, James and Scorpius were all coming over to eat at the Hollow and I was soon so busy with helping get the food out that I almost forgot about the column and my conversation with my mother.

It all came flooding back when my mother announced my good news at the dinner table, and my entire family congratulated me in their own way.

"Oh, that's fantastic, Lily! I knew you'd get it," Sabena exclaimed, jumping up to give me a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.

"I'm not in least bit surprised, Lilyflower," my father said, with a wink and went back to eating his beef. "Remember me when you're famous, will you?"

"Does this mean that I can visit you all over the world wherever you are?" James asked, as he filled his plate with food. "I mean, how does that work?"

"Meaning, how does it benefit you?" Al asked him, with a laugh. "I think it doesn't, James." Then, turning to me, he said, "Good job, Lils. I didn't know you had it in you."

I shot him an amused look. "Thanks… I think." Then, I looked towards Scorpius nervously, who had been silent throughout the entire commentary.

He smiled at me, in a rather sincere way and said, "Congratulations. I'm happy for you. I know you really wanted it."

With a huge sigh of relief, I grinned back at him. Maybe he was actually going to be all right with this.

My mother jumped in to say, "Oh, you know, I think I might have left the pie in the oven. Can you and Scorpius check on it for me, Lils?"

It was an utterly transparent and insanely pathetic excuse to get the two of us into a different room together, but we both leapt at it gratefully.

Once we were in the kitchen - and I saw my mother's pie sitting out to cool, nowhere near the oven - I turned to him urgently. "I'm sorry; I forgot to tell my mother not to say anything. I only just found out today."

"It's all right," he responded, quickly. "It's not like you blared it from the rooftops. I mean, you told your _mother_. It's understandable."

I took a deep breath and then stated, a little helplessly, "I don't know what to do, Scorp. I really want this. But, yeah, I get that it means I'm going to ask you to…." I stopped. Truthfully, I didn't even know what I was asking from him. "I mean, I know it's going to be hard and you might not want that."

"I don't," Scorpius answered, quietly. "But I don't want to break up with you, either."

"So, I want to propose something," I announced, a thought just occurring to me. "And don't break out into a rash because I used the word 'propose'."

Scorpius started to laugh. "I wouldn't. You would."

I ignored that. "I'll move in with you," I told him. "So, that way, your flat will be my home base when I'm in London. And that'll help us spend as much time together as we can when I'm home."

"So, basically, you're splitting the difference," Scorpius answered, thoughtfully. He didn't look happy about it, though. In fact, he looked resigned. "All right. I suppose we can try that." But then he looked across the kitchen at me and added, "But what if it doesn't work, Lily? What if it's not enough?"

"If it's meant to be, Scorp, it'll happen," I answered, with a helpless shrug. "Let's just take it one day at a time, okay?"

**xxx**

We tried, very hard, for about eight months. We would send each other frequent owls, had many Floo conversations, and apparated back and forth as much as we could. But, more often than not, our schedules just didn't line up. We would be in different time zones, or I would be out when he was in and vice versa. A few times, he had an assignment when I was in London, so our paths would barely cross. We'd only had a handful of evenings together during the entire period, and had not had sex in over three months. Not that I was counting or anything.

One night, we'd finally managed to get together for dinner, and we both sat silently in an upscale Muggle restaurant. I tried to think of things to say, but didn't really know where to begin. My job, while having its perks, had been quite lonely up to that point. I hadn't factored in how hard it would be to live out of impersonal hotel rooms and stay in countries where I had no family or friends. I wasn't, by nature, a very outgoing person and it was difficult to be in a land full of strangers, especially places I didn't even know the language. I missed Scorpius terribly and couldn't really do anything about it. But I didn't feel like I could say all these things to him, because it was so hard for him to be supportive to begin with. I felt I had no right to complain.

For his part, Scorpius looked exhausted. I knew he was working on a high-level, top-security, uber-secret case. He couldn't tell me about it, but I knew that he'd been working around the clock and he barely had time to even shave.

As we sat there, picking at our very expensive meal, I looked across at him and suddenly felt very tired myself. I'd taken four Floo connections to get back to London, travelling all day, and I had to leave first thing in the morning to take a Floo to Italy. From there, I was going to the States for two months.

Putting down my fork, I said out loud what I knew he was thinking. "This isn't working, is it?"

There was a part of my heart – a large part – that hoped he'd argue. That he'd say I was daft and that, of course, what we had was completely unbreakable.

But, Scorpius didn't. Instead, he let out a sigh and pushed his plate away. "No, I suppose not."

"We need to stop doing this." My heart was breaking, but I pressed my lips together resolutely. If I was going to break down, it wasn't going to be in public. "It's too hard."

"I had thought it wouldn't be…." Scorpius answered, even though it wasn't true. He had been against my job from the beginning. It was to his credit that that he didn't say _'I told you so'_. I kind of wanted him to. I wanted him to be angry; I wanted him to blame me. Instead, he just said, with a smile, "No one can say we didn't try, right? I mean, sometimes it happens. We were just at different places in our lives."

Nodding a bit, I stood up, amazed that I still had feeling in my legs. My heart was frozen, so I really felt like the rest of me should be, as well. "I really do love you, you know," I told him, feeling like it wasn't enough to just end it like that. "That… that was true."

Scorpius looked up at me. In a low voice, he said, "I know. You wouldn't have said it otherwise; it would have been too hard for you." He glanced down at his plate. "I guess, though, it's not always enough, is it?"

"No, I guess not." Quickly, I walked out of the restaurant, intent on finding a safe place in an alley to apparate away from.

Ten minutes later, I was at the Hollow, in my old room. Sobbing into my mother's lap, as she patted my back and told me everything would be okay.

**xxx**

When I arrived in New York, my heart was very heavy. The last time Scorpius and I had broken up, I had felt terrible, but I hadn't felt like this. This was a whole other level of pain. It literally felt like someone had ripped my heart out of my chest and decided to feed it to a dragon, then shoved it back in. Maybe it was because, last time, there was a part of me that knew we'd get back together. This time, though, it had to be permanent. I had two and half more years on my assignment. That was a long time for anyone to wait, and I couldn't imagine that Scorpius would be there, exactly the same, waiting for me to come back to London. I would be a fool to count on that.

I went through the motions in New York, knowing full well that the article I submitted was going to be terrible. Sure enough, a Howler from Rina arrived the next day, telling me that I better do a better job in Texas or she had about fifteen people lined up to take over my column. For a second, I considered sending her back an owl telling her I was taking her up on her offer. But, if it's one thing I've inherited from both of my parents, it's the inability to quit something once I've started.

When I got to Texas, I hunted down the address Elaina had given me. When she'd heard I was going to be in the States for one month, covering various parts of the country for my column, she'd made me add Texas to the list and told me to visit her family. They lived in the outskirts of Dallas, on a farm or ranch type place.

When I got to her family home, I was amazed to see all the flat land surrounding me. It was very hot and dusty. Her farm seemed like the sort of place I'd only read about – there were pigs, chickens, and horses. The house was a bright yellow color and there was a red barn on the side, like something straight out of a Muggle picture book. After I knocked, I saw, through the screen door, a woman hurrying towards me. She looked like a much larger version of Elaina.

"You must be Lily Potter! Come in, come in. We've been expecting you!" The woman was loud and had a slower drawl than even Elaina. In an odd way, she kind of reminded me of my Gran. Not that they looked or sounded anything alike. She swept the screen door open and ushered me in.

"Thank you for having me," I said, politely. "I didn't mean to intrude, but Elaina -."

"Nonsense! You're no trouble, at all! I'm Carol, as I'm sure Elaina's told you. And you can call me Carol." She gazed down at me critically. "You must be hungry. Come on into the kitchen. I just made pie. It should have cooled down by now."

Following her into the kitchen, I couldn't help but grin. I thought about Gran and how she pressed food on everyone who passed through her door. I knew there was a reason this woman reminded of her. As I looked around the house, I saw shoes strewn about and items placed in the oddest places. It reminded me of the controlled chaos of the Burrow and, for the first time, I felt at home in a place that wasn't in England.

I perched on a stool near the kitchen island and watched her place a large helping of pie in front of me, along with a fresh cup of coffee. "Thank you," I said politely.

"Mom, I can't find my jeans!" A very tall blonde man, who looked about four or five years older than me, came running down the stairs and he was wearing just boxers and t-shirt. "Do you know where they are?"

"Samuel Edison!" Carol screeched and I practically burst out laughing at how Weasley-like she sounded at that moment. "You go put on some pants. We have company!"

The man looked towards me and grinned, rather unapologetically. "I'm sure she doesn't mind. I'm decent." He looked me over, slowly, and then his grin widened. "Who are _you_?"

"I'm Lily Potter," I told him, with a smile. "A friend of Elaina's."

"You have the most interesting accent," he answered, inching closer to me.

His mother smacked him on the chest and pointed towards the stairs. "Back up there. Just go find one of your brothers' jeans and put those on!"

Hiding a smile, I took a bite of my pie. It looked like I'd just met one of Elaina's infamous brothers she was always complaining about.

At that moment, another man ambled into the kitchen, this time through the kitchen door. He looked nothing like Elaina's mother or Samuel. He was very tall, with raven-black hair, and he had incredibly beautiful blue-green eyes with longest lashes I've ever seen on anyone. He, very carefully, wiped his shoes on the mat and ambled over to his mother.

"Mom, I checked the foal. He's doing all right, but we may need to call the vet tomorrow if he doesn't get better," he told his mother, in a very serious voice. Then he turned and saw me. With a frown, he said, "Sorry, I didn't know you had someone over."

"This is Lily Potter. You know, Elaina's friend from England." Carol turned to me and said, "Sam – the one you just met – is my second oldest. This is Tom, my oldest."

He smiled at me and I smiled back. "Nice to meet you," he said, in a drawl that was similar to his mother's. "Elaina said you'd be around for awhile. You're a reporter, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, I hope your trip was okay," he answered, with another grin and then turned to his mom, "I'm gonna head back out. But can you save a piece of pie for me? Before Eric or Sam get their hands on it?"

"Of course, sweetheart," Carol said, rather lovingly. "I already put aside an entire one just for you."

I watched their exchange with some amusement and thought about James and my mother. Apparently, the oldest son got preferential treatment in EVERY continent.

At that moment, I heard someone else running down the stairs. I braced myself for another good-looking brother, but – instead – it was a really pretty girl. She was as tall as Elaina, but she had very dark hair and green eyes. "Sam said she's here. Is she here, Mom?"

"_She _has a name," Carol said sharply. "And, yes, Lily is right here." With a sigh, Carol turned to me. "I'm so sorry. We tried to teach them manners, we really did. It just didn't seem to ever stick." She gestured towards the girl, "This is my youngest, Elizabeth. Or you can call her Liz."

Liz immediately slid into the stool right next to mine. Her eyes were shining and she looked excited. "Oh Lord, you have to tell me all about it! I am _dying _to go to England. My mom said I can't go until I'm done with college, but let me tell you – once I graduate, I'm out of here. Elaina already said I can go live with her. What's it like? Is it all rainy and stuff? Elaina said she doesn't know much about the regular side, because she's a witch and all, but I think that it can't be that different, can it? What do you think?"

"I…er…" I honestly couldn't figure out what the question was. "I'm not that familiar with the Muggle side, myself."

"Oh, right!" She leaned back to look at me. "Because you're a witch, too. Elaina told us that. You're only the third witch we've ever met. Other than Eric and Elaina, of course."

"I'm not a witch, I'm a wizard," a blonde man corrected, as he walked into the kitchen. He shot me an easy smile and held out his hand. "I'm Eric – Elaina's twin. As I'm sure she's already told you."

I reached out and shook it, giving him a smile in return. He looked like the blonde version of his dark-haired brother. Elaina had complained about her brothers a lot, but she'd never mentioned that they looked they'd stepped out of the pages of an old Greek novel. Then again, I never really understood the fascination girls had for my own brothers, so perhaps she didn't see it.

Eric helped himself to a slice of pie and sat down at a stool, as well. "You went to Hogwarts, right? Elaina and I got letters from there when we turned eleven. We decided to go to California, instead."

I nodded. "Yes, Elaina told me." I eyed him curiously. "She never told me why, though. Hogwarts is an excellent school. Most people jump at the chance to go there."

"Too far away," he said, with a shrug. "And, honestly? Too different. California seemed like it would be far away enough to get out in the world, but not be an entirely different world, you know?"

"Yes, I do know."

And I did. After all, what I was doing at the moment, sitting in the middle of a small town in Texas, was something that I would never have imagined doing when I was in school. It took courage. Courage I certainly did not possess. Not until recently, anyway.

We sat and made small talk for another hour, while we all finished up our pie and coffee. And then Carol took me to Liz's room (which also used to be Elaina's room) to show me where I would be staying. I kept demurring, telling her that _Daily Prophet_ would put me up in a hotel, but she insisted I stay with them.

That evening, we all sat around the table and had a gigantic dinner of barbeque chicken, something called grits, and buttered corn on the cob. It was delicious and I couldn't help but reach for seconds. Jonathan, another one of Elaina's brothers, commented that he had no clue that English girls actually liked to eat.

I turned to him with a grin and said, "Most don't. I just come from a family who knows how to appreciate good food."

"You'll fit right in here, then," Eric answered, with a laugh.

After dinner, I went outside and looked out over their fields. I could hear various insects chirping away in the still silence and the night sky looked huge, stars covering almost the entire surface. I breathed in the clean air; it felt like the cramped hustle and bustle of London belonged to a different universe.

Eric came up next to me and handed me a mug of coffee. "So, Elaina said you need to write some article about Texas. What are you going to write about?"

Gesturing towards the vast openness in front of us, I told him, "This. Of course. What else?"

"This isn't Texas," he responded, turning to look at me. "This is just a small part of Texas. You want to write about the entire state, then you need to see the ENTIRE state."

Letting out a slight laugh, I took a sip of coffee. "And how do you propose I do that? I'm only here a couple of days. Then, I have to go to Colorado. From there, California."

"Well, then, it's a good thing you have me as your tour guide." Eric shot me a sly smile. "Since I'm a Wizard and all, I can do this handy-dandy thing called apparating. Tomorrow, I'm taking you on a tour of Texas. Texan-style."

"Texan-style?" I echoed faintly. "What does that mean?"

"You'll see." Eric winked.

Then he went back inside, leaving me to stare out into the darkness, alone with my thoughts. Those thoughts, of course, led back to home and Scorpius. No matter how much I didn't want them to.

xxx

The next day, Eric woke me up bright and early. Literally, I woke up to the call of a rooster outside my window. That reminded me of Elaina and what she'd said about her Patronus. Since I'm not a morning person, it took awhile for me to get up and it was all I could do not to complain loudly for tea every step down the stairs. Eric must have had experience with sleep- deprived women, because he shoved a cup of coffee in my hand as soon as my trainers hit the kitchen tiles.

"Here. I would have gotten you tea, but we don't have any," Eric said. He looked incredibly awake and I tried very hard not to smack him as I looked at him blearily. "We'll get you some in Austin."

"Austin?" I repeated. "We're going to Austin?"

"Yeah."

Eric let me finish a cup of coffee and then grabbed my hand. I closed my eyes as he apparated me to wherever we were going. When I opened them again, I saw that we were standing on a very pretty green lawn. All about us where people, wearing casual clothing, rushing to and fro. There were a lot of buildings surrounding us.

"Where are we?" I asked, with a confused frown.

"University of Texas at Austin," he answered, enthusiastically. He held up two fingers, his smallest and his index finger. "Hook 'em horns."

Blinking at him in confusion, I just said, "What?"

"Longhorns, you know?" I must have still looked perplexed, because he said, "You'll see. Now, it's not my alma mater, but all my brothers went here. And Liz is going here now."

I asked him the obvious question. "Where did you go?"

"UCLA," he answered cheerfully. "They've got a great marine biology program."

My brows rose up that. "Is that what you do?" I had no clue what that meant.

"Yes, in a manner of speaking," Eric answered. He grabbed my hand again and started to walk with me towards a major road. "Come on, I'll take you to a decent coffee place. They should have tea."

"What does that mean?" I asked him curiously. "In what manner of speaking?"

"Well, I study microorganisms in oceans, but I focus on magical microorganisms," Eric explained. "More on the side of the Wizarding world; let's just say I end up dealing with a lot of merpeople, that sort of thing."

"I've never known anyone who does stuff like that before," I confessed, as I let him guide me into a small and crowded coffee shop.

Eric grinned at me. "It's why I never left California. Elaina couldn't wait to leave, but I love it there." At my questioning look, he explained, "I'm visiting right now."

After I had a nice spot of tea, along with a fairly decent scone, I was ready to face the day. Dutifully, I followed Eric about as he took me all over Austin, and then we popped over to Houston. In the evening, we had dinner in Dallas where he swore to me that I'd just eaten the best steak and wings in the world. We ended up in a small town called Dillon where we watched a bunch of kids, around the age of sixth and seventh year, play a game of Muggle American football for about an hour, while lounging on some old bleachers.

I was absolutely exhausted and stuffed to the gills by the time he apparated me back to the Edison farm.

"Thank you so much, Eric," I said to him, absolutely sincerely. "This will be the best article I'll ever write. I can already tell."

"Oh, don't say that," Eric admonished. "You don't want to peak at such a young age, do you? Why don't you just say you raised the bar for yourself? And then exceed it next time?"

I smiled. "I like that. All right." Then, I frowned, "Although, I can't quite imagine my time in Colorado and California will go this smoothly. I think this only worked because I had _you _as a tour guide."

Eric shrugged. "The theory's the same. Find someone in those places to help you out." He paused and then said, "In fact, I know quite a few people in California who would be happy to take some time out to show you around. I'll send them a message tomorrow. And, now that I think of it, I went to school with someone who lives in Boulder now. She'll be happy to give you a tour of Colorado. She loves the place."

I opened my mouth to politely refuse his offer, but then snapped it shut. Giving it some thought, I decided to accept. After all, it would be so much better than spending all the time in a lonely hotel room. And I would get a better feel for the country this way. So, I nodded. "Thank you. I'm going to take you up on that."

"Good," Eric nodded and added, in a teasing tone, "Because I would have made you, anyway." The teasing light left his eyes and he stared down at me intently for a long moment.

I stared to feel a little uncomfortable at the scrutiny and I started to say, "Um… well… you know, I'm knackered, so…."

"I feel like I should ask you to come up and see my etchings, but that seems a little weird, given that this is my parents' place and I share a room with my brother when I'm here," Eric said, cutting me off. He looked a little nervous. "But I would like to kiss you. Elaina said you were gorgeous, but she never said that you were fun and smart, and everything else."

My mouth dropped open in surprise. "Um… well… thank you." I really didn't know what else to say. But, I did add, hastily, "While I would love to see your etchings, I really shouldn't."

His face fell. "Oh, right."

"I just…." I decided I might as well tell him. He was a nice enough bloke. In another world and another time, I'd have probably let him kiss me good-night. "I just broke up with someone. We were fairly serious. And I'm… I'm still rather in love with him."

"Well, I would say he's a lucky guy… but, I guess I should say he's an idiot," Eric answered, with a slight smile. "For letting you go, I mean."

"He's your sister's partner," I confessed, deciding to just tell him the truth. "And he's not. Truly, he's not. We tried and it just didn't…." To my horror, I felt tears start to gather in my eyes. "It's not him."

Eric looked away while I got control of myself. Then, he said, "I'm going to send a message to my friend in Boulder and I'll give you her address. You go straight to her place when you get to Colorado, okay?"

I couldn't trust myself to speak, so I just nodded in agreement.

**xxx**

The time I spent in the States taught me a valuable lesson. In both Colorado and California, I found able and willing friends of friends who took time out of their schedule to show me a side of their home that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. I realized that it made a difference in my writing and it also made a difference in my quality of life. I was happier when I visited people, as opposed to just visiting the place.

So, slowly, I began to create a network of friends who would then introduce me to other friends. Soon enough, there was not one place I would Floo to where I didn't have someone waiting for me on the other end. I kept travelling and I kept writing, observing and absorbing the cultures and people around me.

For the first time in my life, I understood why my godmother had spent so much of her youth travelling. It was addictive and unexpected; fun and full of surprises. And, it taught me more about myself than I'd ever known. It was odd, but it was like I had to leave home to find myself. To figure out who Lily Luna Potter really was. Out here, in the jungles of the Amazon or the beaches of San Carlos, I wasn't anyone's daughter, sister, or cousin. I was just me. And everyone only knew me as who I presented to them: a momentary visitor to their world, sent to write about it. Nothing more and nothing less.

And it was wonderful. If there was a part of my heart that wasn't there, a part of my soul that wished to be somewhere else, I built a wall around that part, not letting it keep me down. I figured there was no need to spend time regretting life choices not made. Especially since I was content with the ones I _had _made.


	10. Knew, Part 2

_A/N: Given how much Lily irritated some of you in the last chapter, I really don't know how you're going to feel about her in this one…. (All I can say is that this is what the characters WANTED to do… there is a method to the madness, though). _

**xxxxxxxx**

_The second time I…_

Knew I was in love with Scorpius Malfoy was three days after my twenty-second birthday.

I'd spent the last two years travelling all over the world, and had about one more year left on my assignment. Amazingly enough, my column was now the most popular column in the _Daily Prophet_, and Rina was pressuring me to commit to another three years. I was conflicted. While I knew there was a lot more to see in the world, I couldn't help but feel like three years was enough.

That didn't mean I wasn't enjoying myself. I'd done things that most witches only dreamed about. I swam with a group of Merpeople off the shores of Hawaii, I traversed the Amazonian jungles and found an island where a group of reclusive and very powerful witches lived. They had a rule that no Muggle or wizard was allowed on their island. I thought it was strange, but they were interesting people, and had some interesting customs.

In the winding streets of Bombay, I met and spent time with ancient wizards, who introduced me to forms of magic that I had never seen at Hogwarts. In Egypt, I went into the pyramids and saw how curse-breakers did their work, even going on an expedition with a group of them. All in all, it was an exhilarating experience – I learned so much about people and a variety of different cultures. My world expanded and I even began to pick up a few of the languages, here and there, along with learning some new charms and hexes.

If I was lonely, I didn't dwell on it. I didn't really have time to dwell. And romantic possibilities were fairly sparse. There would be, of course, blokes who would ask me out or attempt to get me into bed, but it really didn't make sense for me to start anything with them, since I'd move on to a new country every week or so. Every now and then, I'd think of Scorpius, but I'd shove thoughts of him back to a tiny corner of my heart that I never examined. In my opinion, denial and avoidance was a beautiful thing.

When I went back to London – about once every other month – I'd make sure not to seek him out and even my family (perhaps because they thought they were being kind) never mentioned him.

Then one night, I came back to the small cottage where I had been staying in Shanghai for the past few weeks. I'd spent the week on a mountain-top, learning how to meditate and learning about ancient magic. When I entered the cottage, the family I was staying with handed me a letter; it was a bit beaten up and looked like it had seen better days. Glancing at the top corner, I saw that it was from my mother and she'd sent it over a week ago. It looked like the owl must have gotten lost trying to find me, which wasn't surprising, since I'd been in a place where they had very little contact with the outside world.

I thanked them and went into the small area in the back where my sleeping cot was, tearing into the envelope as I did so.

My mum's letter was full of the usual things – stories about the things my parents were up to; she lamented about James never settling down; Albus and Sabena weren't setting a date for the wedding and she was getting sick of it. I grinned, feeling a little homesick as my eyes travelled over her familiar scrawl. Then, at the very end, she mentioned – as an aside – that things were busy for my father at work, because a few of his Aurors had been caught in an ambush. The line simply ended with:

_You know, darling, how dangerous this job is. Poor Scorpius and Elaina were caught in the thick of things. He's still at St. Mungo's; we're hoping he'll pull through. I thought you would want to know – I'll send you an update when I can. _

The letter dropped from my fingers as I let out an involuntary gasp. My mind was racing. My mother had sent this over a week ago. It was possible she'd sent a follow-up owl, but it was probably lost, too. But what would that note contain? Was he all right? Did he pull through? I picked up the letter and scanned it again, rather foolishly, as though it would have more information the second time around.

I decided, right then and there, that I wasn't going to stick around waiting for an owl that might never arrive. Quickly, I pulled out my suitcase and began tossing things into it. I had enough material for my next article and I was due back for a visit to London, in any case. Rina wouldn't mind if I showed up a few days early, as long as I got the column in on time. So, I headed out, thanking the family on my way out, intent on hunting down the closest international Floo connection I could find.

**xxx**

When I arrived at St. Mungo's, I immediately went up to the desk marked 'Inquires'. "Malfoy. I'm looking for Scorpius Malfoy."

The Welcome Witch cast me a bored look. "That'll be the fourth floor, won't it?"

"Obviously. But where on the fourth floor?" I asked, a little impatiently.

Rolling her eyes slightly, she picked up a sheet and ran one finger down the length. "Try room seven."

"Thanks."

Quickly, I made my way over to the stairs. At the foot of the stairs, I happened to bump into James. He looked tired and his Healer's robe were covered in some sort of filthy goo that I didn't want to get close enough to identify.

"Lily!" James looked as though he were about to hug me, but then he must have realized he was disgusting, so he stopped. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in China?"

"I'm here to see Scorpius," I explained and then added, in anxious tone, "Is he all right, James?"

"He's fine, Lily," James said, reassuringly. "I mean, he was unconscious for a couple of days, but when he came to, he was able to tell us what he came in contact with. It _was_ touch and go for a while there, but we figured out the antidote. In fact, I think they're discharging him this afternoon." James hesitated before adding, "I thought you and he were….?"

"We are," I replied, in a vague tone. "But… um… I was in town, so…."

James nodded, still looking a little mystified. "Right, well. He's on the fourth floor."

James stepped aside, so I could rush past him up the stairs. Once I got to the fourth floor, I made my way over to room seven and found the door ajar. Taking a deep breath, I pushed it open and when I entered, I saw Scorpius standing by the hospital bed buttoning up his shirt. Clearly, he was getting ready to leave. He hadn't noticed me, so I gave myself a second to just look him over and a multitude of emotions swamped through me.

How many times had I stood in his bedroom in the mornings, watching him get dressed for work much the same way? He always had the same routine. Methodically, he'd button up his dark shirt and then he'd fix his cufflinks – usually made of Goblin's silver with either the Slytherin shield on it or the Malfoy coat of arms. He had dozens of pairs, because he kept getting them as gifts and he'd inherited quite a few from his ancestors. Once, as a joke, I'd gifted him with a set of bronze Ravenclaw cufflinks embedded with small sapphires, and he'd actually worn them on several occasions. Much to my dismay, he seemed to enjoy telling everyone that it was his girlfriend's version of a ball and chain. And everyone would delight in teasing me, no matter how much I protested and told everyone it had been a gag gift.

I smiled at the memory and uttered, quietly, "Thank goodness you're all right."

Scorpius froze in the act of fixing his left cufflink and then, slowly, turned around to face me. "Lily? What are you doing here?"

I stepped into the room and shut the door behind me. "Well, when I got Mum's owl, I decided to come see you. I mean, she made it seem like you might die, so…."

He hadn't moved; his hand still on his cufflink. After a second, he let his hand drop and gazed across the room at me, and looked me over. Finally, he said, "Where were you?"

"In China."

"You came here all the way from China?" At that, he shook his head. "You could have just Floo'd Albus. He would have told you I was all right. Everyone made a fuss for no reason."

I studied him for one long moment. He looked thinner than usual and paler. It definitely looked like he'd been seriously ill. "I don't know about that."

Scorpius shot me an indefinable look, his jaw clenched tightly. "You didn't need to come, Lily."

I felt a flare of annoyance shoot through me. "Well, I tend to care about whether or not you live or die, Scorpius. I mean, honestly."

"Of course, I know that," Scorpius answered. He reached out and picked up a black jacket that was flung across the back of a chair. He slipped it on and finished, in an odd tone, "But… still."

Letting out a sigh, I just shook my head. "I was due to be back in London, anyway," I lied. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. I'd just come a few days early, that's all. "So, really, it was no trouble."

Scorpius slipped his hands into his slacks' pockets and looked me over again. "Lily…." Scorpius seemed at a loss for words. "We…."

Before he could complete his thought, the door opened and a young woman entered. She was slight, with very sleek, dark hair cut chin-length. She wore an expensive blue jumper and vest set, along with dark slacks and prim heels. A string of pearls around her neck completed the elegant ensemble.

"Good news, Scorpius," she started, as she walked in, "I managed to find Healer Robbins and he agreed to stop by with your discharge paperwork immediately. Really, I can't imagine what -." She noticed me and broke off, with a frown, her gaze focusing on me sharply. "Oh, I didn't realize we had company. Are you an Auror? Poor Scorpius was injured in the line of duty – can't you people leave him alone for even a few days?"

"No, I'm not an Auror." It took me several moments, but I recognized her. "You're Cassie Pembroke."

"Cassandra," she corrected, stiffly. "I don't go by Cassie, anymore." Then her blue eyes narrowed on me. "How do you -?"

I glanced at Scorpius, who was looking incredibly uncomfortable.

"We were in the same year at Hogwarts," I reminded her. "I was in Ravenclaw; you were in Slytherin."

Now, she was looking me up and down, openly curious. I couldn't help but smile. I wasn't as put together as her but, thankfully, I didn't look like a troll, either. I was on my way to the office after this, and I was wearing my customary uniform of silk button-down shirt, with a short pencil skirt and high heels. My hair was swept back in a loose bun at my nape. I was suddenly very thankful I'd managed to find a potion in India that made my unruly curls do my bidding, so my hair was actually behaving in the humid weather for once. As opposed to having a string of pearls around my neck, I was wearing a necklace my father had given me years ago; a delicate silver chain with a pendant in the shape of a lily.

After her slow perusal, she finally said, "Wait, are you… Lily? Lily Potter?"

"Yes."

Cassandra nodded and then walked up to Scorpius. She linked her arm through his and stared at me with a small smile playing on her lips. "How nice of you to stop by to say hello. But, you know, we were just getting ready to leave."

I didn't know what to say to that. Her message was clear, but I couldn't help but look towards Scorpius for confirmation.

Scorpius cleared his throat uncomfortably. He looked down at Cassandra and said, "You know, I think I could use a cup of tea before we go. Would you get it for me?"

Cassandra looked like she wanted to protest, but must have decided it was smarter to comply. With a forced smile, she replied, "Of course, love." But then, not to leave anything ambiguous, she stood on her tip-toe and pressed a kiss on his lips before leaving.

I willed myself not to reach for my wand, contenting myself with just a loud sigh and making a show of rolling my eyes.

After she'd left, I rounded on him, my hands on my hips. "Seriously? _Her_? You're dating _her_?"

Scorpius winced. "Don't say it like that. She's a perfectly lovely person."

Amazed by _that_ categorization, I exclaimed, "But her mother hates your mother! Ivana Pembroke was an absolute boar to your mother at all those charity events. I know – I was there!"

"Actually, it was our mothers who suggested it," Scorpius responded, a little stiffly. "Not that it's any of your -."

"What?" Now, I was just confused. I'd always thought Scorpius's mother liked me. And here she was, shoving him off one some spoiled, rich heiress? "Why would your mother do that?"

"Well, we're no longer together, Lily." Scorpius looked exasperated. "And she does like you. I think she was more devastated than me when we stopped seeing each other."

I eyed him skeptically. "Then why on earth would she put you with… with… _that_ girl? Her mother's a witch, in the other sense of the word, not the magical kind."

"I'm not dating her mother, am I?" Scorpius retorted. Then he shrugged uncomfortably. "And… well… actually, her family has been rather nice to my family over the past year or so."

"Right. That's not surprising." I looked up at him, wondering if he even saw it or not. "Of course they have. Because of me. Ivana Pembroke decided to finally start letting your mother into the inner circle once it turned out that her son was dating Harry Potter's daughter and your mother was all chummy with MY mother. Suddenly, you didn't seem like such a bad catch, after all."

I expected him to argue; to be offended. But, instead, he just said with a wry smile, "We did promise each other we'd be honest with each other. I won't deny it; a lot of those people did start looking at us differently after you and I…." Looking away, he added, quietly, "You know that's how that society works."

I did know. Perhaps I hadn't known, back then, but I certainly knew enough now. It wasn't just in England. It was like that all over the world. And I'd certainly had a lot of time to look back on my relationship with Scorpius and pinpoint what I did wrong and what I did right. I had figured out, of course, that Astoria had taken advantage of her connection to me to make her life a bit easier (after all, she hadn't hidden from me how people treated her and Scorpius had been very frank about the way people viewed the Malfoys). But I had never considered that my relationship with her was nothing more than that. Inexplicably, I felt hurt, even though it had been years since I'd seen her.

"I honestly did think your mother liked me."

Scorpius let out a slight laugh. "My mother adored you. She barely spoke to me for two weeks after we split up. It was all I could do to stop her from going to the States and hunting you down herself."

I eyed him skeptically for a moment, while I gave that some thought. Then, I nodded. Scorpius never lied, and he wouldn't lie about this, either.

"Well, that's good to know." Shaking my head, I added, truthfully, "I was happy that I could help her, because it made _you_ happy that she was happy. I have some regrets from our time together, but I won't regret that." Then, I looked at him straight in the eyes and added, "I didn't realize, though, that it wasn't just your mother. Is people's approval that important to you, Scorpius? That you would set aside their actual personality to have a seat at their table?"

"That's not what it's about. I'm not an idiot, Lily." Scorpius looked irritated. "Did the thought ever occur to you that I might just LIKE Cassandra?"

I pretended like I was giving that deep thought. "Uh…No. Not really. Have you MET her?" Then, I let out an annoyed huff and muttered under my breath, "If your mother really did adore me, she sure has a funny way of showing it. Tossing you at the first spoiled debutante she could get her hands on."

Scorpius looked more than a little irritated. "No, she didn't. Not for a long time. And that was only because she was sick and tired of me -." Scorpius broke off and then, finished, "She just wanted me to see someone, she didn't care who it was. Cassandra's mother suggested it and she went along with it. At first, I just did it because I needed a date for some bloody Ministry ball, but then it turned out she was was fun to be with—."

"Yes," I interrupted, "All of Slytherin knows how much fun she is to be with."

Scorpius shot me a dirty look and said, stiffly, "That's uncalled for. Cassandra's a perfectly decent -."

"How long, then?" I interrupted, not wanting to hear the whole detailed saga about how Cassandra Pembroke captured his heart and a long list of her virtues.

"What?"

"How long have you two been… an item?"

"About a year," Scorpius answered, with no hesitation.

"_A year_?" I didn't even know how to take that. Here I'd been, living like some Muggle nun for the past two years, and he'd been dating Cassandra Pembroke for half that time?

I remembered her from Hogwarts – a bit of a slut, and snobby as all get out, who only cared about her looks and what she could manage to get guys to do for her. Cassie had been one of those girls who made fun of those less fortunate than her. And since she comes from an insanely rich family, that included most of Hogwarts. I'd seen quite a few girls in our year and younger that had been reduced to tears by her bullying. "What do you even _talk _about? Her hair?"

"Don't say it like that," Scorpius said, starting to look a little irritated. "We have a lot in common. Our fathers do business together, our mothers travel in the same circles…."

"Oh, what a match made in heaven," I muttered. "Are you shopping around for matching manors? Do you spend hours counting up your house elves and comparing notes on whose vault in Gringotts is bigger?" I know I was sounding like an idiot, but I couldn't help it. Not only did he go out and replace me within a year, he had the GALL to replace me with a twat that was the complete opposite of me!

Scorpius gave me a look where it was clear he thought I was being immature. "Yes, that's exactly what we do. In fact, we have a date to polish our family silver this evening."

I didn't give him the satisfaction of acknowledging that. "Scorpius, do you know what she was like at Hogwarts and how she used to -."

"No, not really, and I don't want to hear it," he cut in, in a firm voice. "She was two years behind me at Hogwarts, so I didn't really-."

"I was two years behind you at Hogwarts," I broke in, thinking that it wasn't a good excuse.

"Yes, and clearly I didn't know you that well, either, did I?" Scorpius answered, while he looked at me with a strange light in his eyes. "And are you the same person you were then? People change, Lily. It's not fair to judge someone by… by… whatever happens in the past."

Suddenly, I was beginning to realize how Cassandra had convinced him that they were perfect for each other. "Scorpius," I said, in quietly, "It's not the same thing. Not like what happened with you and your family all those years."

Scorpius stared down at me for a long moment. "How would you know?"

I didn't have a response to that. It was true enough that I hadn't travelled in the same circles as Cassandra Pembroke after Hogwarts. But I had seen her at a few of the charity events and had thought the apple really didn't fall far from the tree. Her mother had seemed rude, patronizing, and an overall horrible person. Cassandra had attended a few of the functions, but – now that I thought of it – she had been rather quiet and hadn't mingled much. I'd chalked it up to her being a snobby, spoiled brat, but maybe it was something else. Maybe she had changed and this was just my jealousy speaking.

"So, a year, then?" I meant for the words to come out in a cool and collected way, but instead, my voice was tight, because I was trying to talk past the lump in my throat. "That's how long you've been seeing her?"

"Yes." He fixed me with a hard look. "It's easy, Lily, with her. And, yes, our parents seem to be happy about it. And I won't apologize for it. In case you've forgotten, _you're_ the one who left ME."

My jaw dropped. He could not honestly see it that way, could he? "I did not LEAVE you! You're the one who couldn't WAIT for me! All I needed was some time, to figure things out. To live my life and create a career for myself. Just a few years. And our relationship wasn't important enough for you to be able to just damn well WAIT for it to sort itself out!"

"Wait for you?" Scorpius sucked in a breath and looked down at me, with disbelief. "I've spent my entire bloody life waiting for you, Lily. Waiting for you to get older, waiting for you to realize I exist, waiting for you to acknowledge me, waiting for you to be ready to decide our relationship could work, waiting for you to love me like I -." He broke off and then stared down at the floor, and took a moment to gain control of himself. Finally, he looked up and finished, in a low tone, "I couldn't wait anymore, Lily. I can't."

Rendered mute by his tirade, all I could do was just stare up at him in confusion.

"Besides, Lily," he added, in a brusque tone, "I hardly think you're allowed to judge. You waited a whole two _weeks_ before you moved on."

I immediately shot back, "What? No, I didn't!"

"Eric?" Scorpius said, slowly, as though I was being daft. "Edison? Elaina's brother? I read the article; I saw the picture of the two of you with your arms around each other. You spent the entire article going on and on about what a great time you both had together."

I tried to think back on the article I'd written about Texas. I'd submitted a lot of photographs with the article, and Rina had decided to print the one of Eric trying to teach me to milk a cow and, yes, in the picture he puts his arms around me to teach me how to do it properly. I suppose I'd never thought about how it looked.

"We weren't on a date," I finally stated, firmly. "We spent two days together, he showed me around the state. That's all."

"Really? Maybe in the States, they don't call that a date, but in England it still qualifies as one."

I put my hands on my own hips and reiterated, curtly, "It was not a date. In fact, he asked me out and I turned him down. Much the same way I've turned down every OTHER guy that's asked me out over the years." Suddenly, I was feeling like a bit of an idiot for doing so.

Scorpius gave me a skeptical look, but he kept silent. Then, inexplicably, the anger in his eyes died out and was replaced by a hint of resignation. He let out a long sigh. "Lily. What are we doing? It doesn't matter. Who you see is none of my business. And who I see is none of yours."

I looked down, not wanting to think about the truth of his words. I opened my mouth to tell him I agreed with him, but instead, I found myself saying, "Do you love her?" I wanted to snatch back the words, instantly, but it was too late.

When I glanced back up at him, I saw that he seemed at a loss as to what to say. With a peculiar light in his deep grey eyes, he started, "Lily… I…."

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by Cassandra walking into the room, holding a cup of steaming tea in one hand. "Here you are, love."

Grateful that she'd interrupted when she did, I took a step back. It was my cue to leave. Looking between the two of them, I said, hastily, "Well, so glad you're feeling better, Scorpius. Take care of yourself."

And then I rushed out of the room before they could reply. I walked down the hallway quickly, stopping once I found an empty room. Until that moment, I really hadn't realized that, contrary to what I'd told myself, I _had_ expected him to wait for me. What had I been thinking? That I would walk into his hospital room and we'd have a joyous reunion and then I'd hop into the next Floo on my way to Columbia? Obviously, it wasn't going to happen that way. I had to face it: Scorpius had moved on. And I needed to figure out a way to move on myself.

**xxx**

"I need a good shag," I announced to Rose, as I took a healthy swallow of my bramble-apple martini.

Rose choked on her firewhiskey. "What? Are you mad? What's gotten into you, Lils?"

"No one's gotten into me. In almost two years," I said to her, darkly. "That's kind of the point."

Rose's mouth dropped and then she let out a laugh. "Oh my… little Lily Luna has grown up."

Shooting her an irritated look, I swiveled around in my seat and surveyed the club where Rose had brought me for birthday drinks. It appeared to be crawling with good-looking, eligible wizards around my age. But, admittedly, my experience with laying down the foundation for a one-night stand was incredibly limited. As in, non-existent.

"So, how do I go about doing this?"

Rose looked over at me, one brow quirked. "By this, do you mean the act itself? Because, honestly, I would have thought Scorpius had taught you at least a thing or two…."

Letting out a laugh, I said, "No, I know that much, thanks. What I mean is how do I go about finding a random bloke, have mind-blowing sex, and then go home never to see him again?"

"I don't know whether to be flattered or offended that you're coming to me for tips," Rose answered, highly amused, as she took another sip of her drink. "I think I'll choose to be flattered."

I laughed again, taking a healthy swallow of my own drink. Then, I turned to the bar-tender and asked him for another.

At that moment, a man came towards us, wearing waiter's robes and carrying a tray with a drink on it. "Ah… miss? This drink is from the man over there." The waiter indicated towards a corner, where I could make a dark haired man sitting on a dragon-hide sofa. He lifted his drink to us when Rose and I looked his way curiously. "He said it's for the beautiful red-haired witch, with his compliments."

Rose and I glanced at each other and then looked down at the drink.

Rose grinned. "Well, tell him thank you." She reached out to grab it.

Before she could, I picked it up and put it next to me. "It's not for you," I told her, with a grin. "It's for me."

"Really." Her brows shot up and she looked partly amused and partly annoyed. "I'm the one with red hair."

I eyed her critically. "You're wearing your hair in a braid. No one can tell what color it is in this lighting. I'm wearing my hair down. And," I added for good measure, indicated towards the drink, "It's a martini. I'm the one drinking a martini… if he meant it for you, it would be a firewhiskey."

"It's a wild-cherry martini," Rose argued. "You're drinking a bramble-apple martini. It could be either one of us."

With a shrug, I said, "All right, let's find out. I bet you ten galleons it's me."

"You're on." Rose reached out and shook my hand.

Turning to the waiter, I said, with a bright smile, "Tell him I accept, and I would love to thank him in person."

The waiter, who'd been watching this entire exchange with bemusement, answered, "Of course."

Within moments, the dark haired man got up and made his way over to us leisurely. As we both watched him approach, I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. He was very good-looking, in a tall, dark, and handsome sort of way. The problem was that he looked like a man who _knew_ he was good-looking. He was dressed to the nines – expensive clothes, expensive watch; everything pristine and perfect from top to bottom. Even the dark hair had been groomed very carefully to give it a windswept look. I couldn't help but compare him to Scorpius who could manage to pull off a similar get-up with the same casual effortlessness he employed when wearing an old pair of jeans.

Then, I remembered I was there to forget about Scorpius and comparing every man I saw to him was NOT the way to go about it.

When he got to our end of the bar, he smiled at me and said, "I'm so glad you accepted my gift." His English was pristine, but there was a faint touch of an accent. I couldn't quite place it, even though it seemed familiar.

"I'm so glad you offered," I answered, with a smile that I hoped came off as flirtatious and not mental. I shot a triumphant look at Rose, who was staring at the man with a peculiar look on her face. "This is my cousin, Rose, and I'm Lily."

With a raised brow, he looked at me and then at Rose. "Ah, what apt names for two such beautiful flowers."

The smile dropped from my lips and I nearly groaned out loud. "Oh, thank you. We've never heard _that_ one before. Right, Rose?" I looked over at my cousin who, for whatever reason, had gone entirely mute.

Instead of looking offended, he grinned, displaying even, white teeth that off-set against his tanned skin beautifully. "Are you mocking my technique? I usually don't get critiques from the beautiful women who accept a drink from me. But, yes, I suppose I could have been more original." He lifted one of my hands and brushed his lips across it, his eyes lingering on me. "Now you've put me on notice, flower. I'll try harder next time."

I shot a look towards Rose, as if to say, _Can you get a load of this guy? _

He straightened and said, "I'm Domingo. But my friends call me Dom."

With a slight nod, I picked up the martini he'd sent my way and took a sip. "Well, we won't be calling you Dom," I informed him. "We have a cousin named Dom and she's a blonde-haired girl, part-Veela. It would just be flat out weird to call you Dom." I glanced towards Rose, expecting her to jump in at that point, but she was just staring at Domingo, her long-forgotten firewhiskey still in one hand.

"Can you excuse us?" I said to him, a little curtly, and then jumped off the stool. I grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her down from hers, as well. "We need to… uh… powder our noses, you know. Girl stuff."

"By all means," Domingo answered, thoughtfully. "Go ahead."

I pulled Rose towards the back, where I found a well-lit hallway that lead to the women's loo. I rounded on her and asked, "What is WRONG with you?"

Rose seemed to have recovered her ability to speak. Her eyes were alight with excitement. "Do you know who that is, Lily?"

I pulled back and pretended to give it some thought. "Uh… he's the man I'm going to shag senseless tonight and then never see again? I thought we'd already established that."

Rose looked like she was going to say something, but then she shook her head. "Oh, never mind. All right, go on with your plan, then. Do be sure to keep notes, though, and give me details later."

"Right, of course, I'll be thinking of you the whole time," I answered, dryly. Then, I held out my hand. "You owe me ten galleons, by the way."

Making a face, she dug into her tiny purse and took out the coins. Dropping them into my outstretched hand, she added, in a cautionary tone, "Now, don't forget to send me a Patronus when you get to wherever it is you plan to implement your night of ecstasy. Remember what our parents always say -."

"- Constant vigilance," I filled in, automatically. "I know. I will."

I made my way back to the front of the club, half-expecting Domingo to have left. But he hadn't. He was still there, nursing his own glass of firewhiskey. I slipped into the stool next to him and then attempted to employ whatever limited seduction skills I possessed.

"Sorry about that," I told him, with a smile. "Rose wasn't feeling well… had to go home."

Domingo didn't look surprised by that. "Right. I hope she feels better."

He looked over at me and boldly assessed the entire length of my body, his dark eyes raking all over, lingering a bit on my chest. Since I was wearing a very tight dress, cut down as far as it could go without it being indecent, I supposed I couldn't blame him. Not to mention, I'd gotten a bit used to men looking at me that way over the years. It didn't make me uncomfortable anymore.

"So, what do you do, Lily?" Domingo asked, with a light smile playing on his lips. I couldn't tell if he was really interested or if he just asked because he felt he should.

"A little bit of this; a little bit of that," I answered, airily. "I travel a lot. In fact," I added, taking another sip of my drink, "I'm leaving for another four weeks tomorrow. So, tonight is the only night I'm in London." I shot him a flirtatious look over my glass, hoping he'd get the hint and just get on with it, already.

If he got the hint, he didn't take it. Instead, he looked mildly interested. "Oh? I travel a lot, too. What is it you do?"

Letting out a slight sigh, I answered, "Uh… does it really matter?" I really didn't need this bloke's life story. In fact, the idea of bonding with him and turning this into a… a… _thing_ was seriously playing havoc with my plan to just have some mindless fun. "I mean, what does it matter what you do or what I do? Neither one of us is at work; let's just have a good time."

"Hhhmmm… that's a thought," Domingo answered, looking a little amused.

I looked down at my drink. Clearly, I really wasn't very good at this whole seduction business. Racking my mind, I attempted to figure out what to say or do. "Thank you for the drink. I usually drink bramble-apple martinis. But this is quite good." Staring down at the cherry floating at the bottom of my glass, a plan started to formulate.

A few months after we starting dating, there was an evening Scorpius and I went out to a pub. I'd had a drink that had a cherry in it and I showed him, rather laughingly, that I could twist the stem with my tongue and tie into a knot. It was a special skill I'd had since I was a kid, so I thought he'd get a kick out of it. But when I showed him the knotted stem, he'd just gotten a very strange look on his face and he'd quickly apparated me back to his flat.

Remembering how that night had gone down, I fished the cherry out of my glass and said, before popping it into my mouth, "You know, I can do a trick…."

We were at his hotel room within five minutes.

**xxx**

When I was getting ready to leave, I checked the mirror on my way out. My eyeliner was smudged and my lipstick was worn off. My hair, which I'd so carefully set hours earlier, was all tangled. Even the special potion from India couldn't withstand the events of the night. I pointed my wand towards my hair and tried to fix it, but gave up shortly after.

Domingo sat up on the bed, watching me as I slipped on my shoes. "You were serious? You're not going to stay the night?"

I shot him a confused look over my shoulder, as I leaned down to fix the strap of my shoe. "No, of course not."

He got out of bed and slipped on his boxers. "I'm feeling rather used right now." With a wolfish grin, Domingo added, "I'm not used to that."

Straightening up, I cast my gaze over his well-sculpted build in a frank way. "I suspect you're accustomed to _doing_ the using, though, aren't you?"

Domingo appeared to give that some thought. "Not as much as people think, no." Then, he shook his head impatiently. "At least tell me your name."

"You know my name," I reminded him, as I opened the hotel room door. "It's Lily."

Before he could respond, I shut the door quickly. Then, I stood there for several seconds considering my options. I couldn't go back to the Hollow, which was where I was staying, because my mother would take one look at me and have a fit. I didn't feel like hunting down yet another impersonal hotel room. Finally, I decided to head over to Rose's. She lived nearby and, Merlin knew, she wouldn't judge.

**xxx**

"So, tell me everything," Rose ordered, imperviously, as she handed me a Muggle beer.

It was three in the morning, but I accepted it, anyway. Taking a long pull from the bottle, I shrugged. "Not much to say."

Rose snuggled down in the couch across from mine and made a face. "What? How disappointing. So the stuff they say about him isn't true?"

"What?" I shot her a confused look. "Who says what about whom?"

"Domingo Reyes," she said, impatiently. "You know, the bloke you just shagged senseless? The professional Quidditch player." At the mystified expression on my face, she let out an odd sound. "Oh my… good Godric Gryffindor! Don't tell me you never figured out who he was!" She jumped up and rifled through some magazines on her coffee table. She pulled one out called _Quidditch Monthly_ and brandished it in front of me. Sure enough, there was Domingo on the cover, holding a bat. "He plays for Spain," she informed me, a little breathlessly, as she stared down at the picture. "They're favorites to win the World Cup this year. Mainly because of him."

I rubbed my eyes tiredly. "I thought the Seeker was the most important player. I didn't know he could use a bat?"

Rose looked horrified. "Oh… Merlin's beard. I can't believe we're related. NO, the Beater holds a bat. And, yeah, the Seeker's important, but when you've got a talented Beater, then he can -," she broke off, realizing that I had started to tune her out. "The point is, he's a Quidditch god… and he's got quite a reputation when it comes to witches. His mum's British and his dad's Spanish, so he can seduce women in TWO languages." Rose appeared to be very impressed by that.

"Really?" I gave it some thought; he had been fairly talented, I had to admit that much. "He never spoke Spanish. It was English all the way. I was wondering what the accent was, though. And, yes, his technique was all right, I suppose."

Rose stared at me and then burst out laughing. "What, was it sex or a lesson in wand-handling?"

I laughed, as well, at that. Ignoring the comment, I asked her, "Do you have something I can change into?" I looked at the dress I was wearing critically. I had a feeling I'd be burning it.

"Sure." Rose led me into her bedroom and gestured towards the bureau. "Help yourself."

She left me alone and I quickly tugged off the dress and, after searching for a while, found an old, orange t-shirt of Rose's that had "Chudley Cannons" written across it in faded script. We're both the same waist size, so it was easy enough to find a pair of pajama shorts that wouldn't be too long on me. Then, I went into her loo and scrubbed my face clean, brushed my hair, and then pulled it up into a ponytail.

By the time I went back to the living room, I saw that Rose had taken out an assortment of food; chips and some biscuits. I picked up my abandoned beer from her coffee table and settled into the comfy couch.

"You know I'm not going to let it go, don't you?" Rose said, looking across the room at me as she stood in her tiny kitchen. "My cousin ends up sleeping with a Quidditch sex god and you expect me to just leave it alone?"

I couldn't help but grin at that. "No, I don't." I thought about the events of the evening and then shrugged, "Look, it was all right. If you want to know the truth…." I stopped and then, confessed, slowly, "My mum… a long time ago… once told me that sex was more than just the physical. Something about how it was…."

"…also about being loved and cherished?" Rose finished for me and then took a long pull of her drink. She walked into the living room and sat down on a floor pillow close to me. Crossing her legs Indian-style, she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, my mum gave me the same lecture. You reckon they must have practiced it together first?"

"Well, do you think they're right?" I asked Rose, wondering if I was just odd. "I mean, I expected this to be more… you know, _more_." Instead, what I felt was like I needed to take a long shower and never think about it again.

Rose was quiet for a long moment, playing with the wrapper on her bottle. "Yeah, I think they're right to a certain extent. I mean, I'm not saying I was in love with every bloke I've been with…." She cast me a questioning look.

"Oh, yeah, no, I haven't been, either," I told her, truthfully. "But I dated them for a while first. We were, at the very least, friends."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Rose let out a slight laugh. "Remember Simon? Merlin's beard, that bloke knew what he was doing."

"Really?" I tried to recall what Simon looked like. I seemed to remember him being very tall, with brown hair. He'd been in Gryffindor and a couple of years older than me. "How long were you two together? I don't remember."

"Most of fifth year and half of sixth year," she told me, solemnly and then cracked up laughing again. "When we were studying for our OWLs, we'd sneak into this corner of the library no one knew about. Sweet Merlin, Lily, even now when I enter a library I get a little turned on."

I burst out laughing at the idea of it. "Come on. He couldn't have been THAT good. He was only… what… 15? 16?"

"No, seriously," she insisted, sitting up a bit straighter. "I have no idea how or why, but what that guy could do with his hands? Should be illegal. And it was even more amazing, because I had no idea that it could even BE that way, after Scorpius."

Feeling a little sick to my stomach, I held up my hand in warning. "Don't tell me he was your first; I don't want to hear it."

"No, Scorpius? He wasn't." Rose shook her head, a faintly nostalgic smile on her lips. She grabbed a biscuit and bit into it. "We had NO idea what we were doing, Lily. We never knew where to put our mouths, our hands… it was all so awkward and odd. I remember feeling SO disappointed, like… this is it? What everyone goes on and on about? I mean, it was PLEASANT, but the world did not stop spinning on its axis or anything."

"Well, he certainly improved," I told her, a little impishly. "I did NOT have those problems with him, I can assure you."

She leaned back and eyed me curiously. "So, go on, then. Was he your first?"

"No, of course not," I shot back, a bit irritated. Taking a few chips, I wolfed them down. I hadn't eaten dinner and I felt like I needed something to go with the beer. "Honestly, why does everyone always assume I'm so virginal?"

"Because you're an over-thinker," Rose explained. "You analyze and overthink EVERYTHING. So, naturally, one assumes you'd be the same way in the sack."

Rolling my eyes, I let out an exasperated sigh. "I tried to be a FEELER today, who tossed thinking out the window. It certainly wasn't that great of an experience. So, yeah, I'll stick to my method, thanks."

"So, who was he then?" Rose prompted, clearly not to be diverted from the topic at hand.

"Michael Wright," I admitted, thinking back to my sixth year at Hogwarts.

"Nooo!" Rose looked utterly horrified. "The HUFFLEPUFFER? You lost your virginity to a bloke from HUFFLEPUFF? There should be a law against that, Lily. At least for Weasleys."

"Come on," I said, rather defensively. "He was nice. And sweet. He was very… gentle… and respectful."

Rose nodded at each word and then added, "Boring and boring and boring. Yeah, I get the gist."

"Really?" I squinted at her. "What about that one bloke, Daniel? He had the personality of a washboard."

"Oh, right, Daniel!" Rose started laughing again. "You know, he went on to marry his secretary, I heard."

"No? Really?" I tried to picture stodgy, unassuming Daniel getting it on with a subordinate. I grabbed another handful of chips and tossed them in my mouth, saying, "How'd he accomplish that?"

Rose shrugged. "Don't know."

"So was that it, then?" I asked her, not seeming to remember any other of her boyfriends at the moment.

"No, of course not." Rose rolled her eyes. "Then, there was Roger – rather handsy fellow, but knew how to use them. Unfortunately, he also cheated on me with someone in the Auror office, so that somewhat sucked. Then… there was… let's see… Gideon. Ah, he was perfectly lovely. Beautiful blue hair, striking eyes; if only he hadn't found the love of his life three weeks after we met."

"Oh, that's terrible!" But she didn't seem heartbroken over it, so I just laughed some more. "Gideon… I don't remember him."

"Never brought him to any of the family gatherings," she told me, rather wistfully. "I really liked him, though… wish he'd worked out." She tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. "So… wait… it was just the Hufflepuffer and Scorpius? Wow, you really DID need a good shag."

"No, after Michael, it was Sebastian," I told her, recalling my seventh year.

Rose frowned, while she picked at another biscuit. "Who was he? At Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, he was in Gryffindor; he was a sixth year," I admitted.

Rose's jaw dropped and then she flopped back, bursting into a fit of giggles. "You dated a YOUNGER man? Naughty, naughty."

"It's even naughtier," I grinned, as I took another long drink. "I was HIS first."

"Why, Lily Potter, I never knew you had it in you," Rose said, slowly. "Deflowering a virgin. I'm so proud of you right now. But what on EARTH made you do it to begin with?"

My mind was a little foggy, but I thought back to my last year at Hogwarts and tried to remember why I'd dated Sebastian. "Uh… let's see… he was a friend of Hugo's. And Hugo asked me to help him out… apparently Sebastian was having problems with Ancient Runes. So, I tutored him for a few months."

Rose nodded knowingly and said, in a dramatic voice, "Ah… and then the student became the master and he demanded you tutor him in so much more! I like where this going…."

I giggled. "It wasn't LIKE that! Just… well… one thing led to another. He was sweet; apparently he had a crush on me for a long time. He was a really nice bloke, quiet… kind of shy."

"Sweet, quiet, nice, shy…." Rose snorted into her beer and gave me a pitying look. "I'm seeing a pattern here, Lils. You always go for the staid and boring bloke."

"Hey, Scorpius wasn't staid and boring," I shot back, starting to feel a little defensive.

Rose nodded emphatically. "Yes, he is. He's one of the most boring and staid blokes I know."

My brows furrowed in confusion. "How do you figure?"

"It's hard to explain, but he's…." Rose shrugged. "I don't know. He just always does the honorable and right thing, doesn't he? He's so quiet, so responsible. And his CLOTHES. I mean, does he EVER get his shirts wrinkled? Does he have a bloody tie for every day of the year? He's so… I don't know, BORING."

"There's a little more to him than all that," I told her, thinking about very pleasurable ways in which we'd used his ties before. Not that I told Rose that. Apparently, I wasn't that drunk, yet. "But, yeah, I get what you mean. I mean, you go for blokes with tattoos and body piercings. And, yeah, that's not Scorp. I think that he'd die before he'd get a body piercing."

Rose frowned at that. "It's not about the piercings and tattoos," Rose said to me, abruptly.

She put down her empty beer bottle and went into the kitchen. This time, she emerged with two ice-cold bottles of pumpkin juice. I put down my own half empty beer and took the juice from her and waited for her to finish.

"It's the excitement," she said, finally. "I want… I just want someone _interesting_, you know? Someone that gets my heart racing and wants to do unexpected things and just…." She stopped and began fiddling with a loose thread on a pillow cushion. "Someone who didn't go to bloody Hogwarts with us; someone who had a different STORY than us."

"You know," I told her, with a slight grin, "Seventy-five percent of students who go to Hogwarts end up marrying someone they went to school with. Yeah," I nodded emphatically, "They've done studies and everything."

Rose frowned and didn't look happy about the prospect. "Well, I have no plans to be part of that seventy-five percent, thanks. Put me down for the other twenty-five percent. Someone who doesn't know a Weasley from a Dursley. That's what I want." Rose looked at me with an arched brow, seeming to be a little defiant. "You probably think I'm mental."

"No, I don't," I assured her, with a genuine smile. "In fact, I used to be the same way."

Rose looked confused. "Then why the hell did you get together with Scorpius then?"

Thinking back on it, I admitted, "I didn't want to; it just happened. And then I fell in love with him, I guess, so I got over it."

Rose nodded. "And it's hard as all hell to find a guy who doesn't know our family. Merlin knows I've tried. And, let's just say I've had at least a FEW of the sorts of nights you just had," Rose confessed, with a faintly sardonic smile. "So, I know how you feel."

"Like warmed up dragon-dung?" I asked her, only half joking.

"Well, no… but I did regret it a little. But… I suppose… sometimes it just happens."

"It didn't just happen for me, though," I told her, sobering up a bit. I bit my lip anxiously. "I planned it. Oh, I'm horrible, aren't I? I'm going straight to Hades."

Rose snorted into her pumpkin juice. "You are not going to Hades. And OF COURSE you didn't plan it. It was a retaliation shag."

"A what?" I looked at her stupidly. I couldn't tell if I was drunk or I just appeared to have gotten a bit slower over the past twenty four hours.

"You just found out about Scorpius and that TWAT he's seeing," Rose said, sitting up slowly. "So, you went off and found your own twat. It happens."

"She IS a twat, isn't she?" I exclaimed, feeling vindicated. "So, it's not just me."

"No, of course not," Rose rolled her eyes and settled down on the sofa next to me. She pulled her legs up Indian-style and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I don't know what he's thinking. I told him what she was like at Hogwarts. Even Albus tried to talk some sense into him; and he was in Slytherin, so you would think his opinion would matter. If he wasn't an Auror, I would have been convinced that witch is feeding him regular doses of love potions."

"Is that possible?" I asked, feeling a bit hopeful.

"No." Rose frowned. "They teach us how to identify the effects of potions in the Academy, how to overcome them, avoid them, and all that. And he's a good Auror. He'd be able to tell." She shook her head in genuine bafflement. "No… I actually think Scorpius is just buying the dragon-manure the witch is feeding him. Can you believe it?"

"No, I can't," I answered, a little weakly. "He's usually a good judge of character." Then, I admitted to her what I'd even been afraid to admit to myself. "I'm still in love with him, Rosie."

Rose looked utterly unsurprised by my confession. "I know."

"What do I do?" I asked her, hoping she had some sort of magical solution.

"Well," Rose answered, thoughtfully, "They don't make hate potions, but maybe I should try to create one? Perhaps if patented it, I could even make a fortune!"

Letting out a weak laugh, I shook my head. "I don't know if that'll do the trick, but do let me know if that works out for you."

Rose sobered up and looked at me seriously. "Look, Lils, I really love Scorpius a lot. You know that. He's like family. But, yeah, if he's moving on then you need to move on, too. And not in the way you tried tonight," she added, a bit sharply. "You're not cut out for that."

Nodding thoughtfully, I agreed. "Yeah. I know." Then, I perked up and suggested, slyly, "Or maybe I just need to hunt down Simon the sex god."

Rose burst out laughing and lifted up her pumpkin juice. "I'll drink to that."

**xxxxxxxx**

_**A/N: Sorry, I didn't get a chance to respond to people's thoughts on chapter 8 last time. **_

_x8xdanix6x__: I'm glad you liked chapter 8 and enjoyed the family dynamics. That chapter was SO much fun to write. _

_Emilyswain__: I loooovveee your reviews. They are seriously good for my soul. I hate that you had to go through that with your cousin! That's terrible. I also have an older cousin, who is quite pretty, but we were never compared like that. I'm the second oldest girl in 10 cousins, so my younger cousins are usually compared to ME. And, yeah, I didn't focus on that break-up that long, but it's because I'm evil and I knew a longer break-up was coming up. I'm sorry! And, Ginny/Lily… that dynamic is fun to write. But, to be fair to Ginny, she's said this stuff to Lily before. It's just that, like most mother/daughter relationships, there relationship is complicated. Ginny can say this stuff until her dying breath, but she can't make Lily accept it. _

_Dangme__: Thank you… I'm glad you enjoyed chapter 8. _

_Deppsdarling__: Oh, thank you so much for your kind words. I KNOW… what's with the lack of Lily/Scorp fics? I would have thought this pairing would be SO much more popular. _

_CatAnne78__: Thank you! I'm so glad you liked chapter 8 and hope you're dealing OK with the angst. (This one was fairly angsty, as well.) _

_Sweetshortcakes:__ Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed chapter 8. _

_Snowflakebeautiful__: Thank you so much for your kind words. I haven't read many Lily/Scorp fics (or many fics in the HP verse at all, for that matter) so I had no idea that Lily being in Ravenclaw was original. It just came to me that she would be, given how I wrote her personality and how she approaches life. _

_Twilightobsesive__: Oh no, I took that happy feeling and crushed it to bits, didn't I? I'm so sorry… but, into every life, a little angst must fall, right? If I felt it there, then Lily's journey wouldn't have been complete. Both she and Scorpius have things they need to do before they can really be happy together. _

_**Chapter Nine responses: **_

_Teddyandlilyforever__: Thank you! I'm glad you're liking the story and you never want it to end. There's one more chapter after this & then there is an epilogue. So, unfortunately, it will end. But I hope you like the ending! And, yeah, I think I will write another one. It's percolating in my head… but Rated M? I do write smut (actually, I've written quite a bit of Clark Kent/Lois Lane smut over the years) but I don't post that in open forums. My smut is under lock & key on my livejournal. So, if I do 'go there' with the next fic, you'd have to head over to my LJ to get to read those chapters. _

_Dangme__: Thank you! I don't love the long chapters… it's driving me crazy; I want them to be shorter, but the characters won't shut up in my head. My update speeds are insane, aren't they? It shows that this fic has taken hold of my life and won't let me rest until I type it all out. I can hardly wait until it's over. _

_Emilyswain__: Again, your reviews just make me want to do a fist pump and jump around my living room in happiness. You so GET what I'm doing with this and the characters. THANK YOU. _

_Bucky5__: Lily is a bit of an idiot in chapter 9? I mean, in general, I think she's a bit of an idiot – all round – but I didn't really see her as being all that bad in chapter 9. She's twenty years old, she had a great job offer… she wants to go off and live life. Can't really blame a girl for that, I don't think. Sure, she's leaving behind an awesome guy, but…. She's young._

_CatAnne78__: Oh, yes, OF COURSE they'll get back together. I don't do crazy angst. I do what I like to call "fluffy angst" – characters make some dumb decision along the way; there's a little bit of heartbreak; and then happy endings for all. I never do dark fics. EVER. _

_Snowflakebeautiful__: I wonder if you still feel for Scorpius after Chapter 10? Or do you still think it's all Lily's fault? I have to say, I know Scorpius's side of this, but I don't feel TOO badly for him. I mean, don't you think he could have worked harder to make it work? Been a little more supportive of his girlfriend's dreams? Tried to figure out how to help HER have it all? He wants it all – the brilliant career as an Auror, families getting along together, a beautiful wife at home with future ginger-haired children on the way. But did he really take into account what Lily wanted? And if she was ready for that? _

_TheSecretRomantic__: Wow, what a high compliment. I'm sorry I made lose a night's sleep, but that certainly makes me happy, too. SPOILER ALERT… She totally gets back together with him. _

_ohmyjonasHP__: Thank you SO much! It was sad. I felt for her. _

_Pen7sword__: Thank you! Oh, I couldn't let Harry win. No way. James is WAAAYY younger than him and good Seeker & then you've got Ginny, who used to play professional Quidditch. Ginny totally needed to win. LOL (Don't worry, though… Ginny made it up to Harry later on.) _

_Sweetshortcakes: I know, it was sad. But, they'll be back together soon. I hope. _

_Nymphadora__: Oh… the best one you've EVER read? I'm giving you a virtual hug right now. Thank you! I've only ever read ONE Draco/Ginny fic (and had to bleach out my eyeballs afterwards), so I'll just take your word for it. I honestly wasn't thinking of D/G at all when I wrote this fic. Neither Lily nor Scorpius are anything like them, in my world. At least, in this one. I don't know what they'll be like in the next Lily/Scorp fic I write. _

_Hushpuppy22__: Hhhmmm… Those are some good questions. I don't know if your problems with Lily will be resolved by the end of the fic, to be honest. I mean, some of it will be addressed, but I don't go into the nitty-gritty of everything, so all of it might not be. _

_Ironically, I'd written more than half of this chapter before I saw your comment & some of what you're concerned about WAS addressed by Lily. As far as Scorp and the house elves thing is concerned: Lily didn't buy that from him. She promised him they'd talk about it again & they did. I just skipped over all those conversations, because I didn't want to be repetitive. But, rest assured, they dated for a year between chapter 8 and 9 & Lily wasn't exactly a shrinking violet during that period. Needless to say, she's still not OK with the house elves and how at ease he is with his wealthy heritage. _

_And, yeah, Lily wasn't good about balancing family and her first real boyfriend, but she was 20 years old and wanting independence from her family. She wanted to make her boyfriend happy (especially since the thing with his parents made them break up the first time). She got swept away by that. Then, her mother called her on it & she started to be better. I don't know if you noticed, but – later on – she first tries to hunt down her parents and brothers to tell them about the travel column. And, she mentions that she's going to the Hollow for dinner that weekend and – a few weeks later – she's there for another family dinner. So, she learned how to balance her time better, and the Potters are still very much a priority in her life. _

_Scorpius isn't perfect (FAR from it; how boring would he be if he were perfect?) and some of the problems you have with him will be addressed later. I think, though, Lily can still be in love with the guy. Over all, he's a decent person and he has his own identity to figure out, like she does. That's why they're not together, yet. They both need some growing up and maturing to do. _

_Thank you SO much for your comments, __**hushpuppy22**__! I love that you actually THINK about the story and you explain what you like and what bothers you. Honestly, as a writer, it just makes me so happy, because I feel like… okay… clearly, someone cares about these characters. They care about what I'm writing. So, THANK YOU! I appreciate it and I think (or hope, at least) that it makes me a better writer, because it shows me what I need to be thinking about. _


	11. Scorpius's Interlude III

_**A/N:** I know I was supposed to post the third chapter of "Knew". But... I decided to give you guys Scorpius's side of the story first. Mainly because I had it one way in my head & then I read some of your comments and I couldn't help but laugh, because your perception was so different from what I imagined Scorp's side of the story to be. Originally, Lily was going to learn about a lot of this in the third part of "Knew" and the epilogue, but I thought you might enjoy it more if you just took Scorp's journey with him. _

_So... here's Scorp's side of the story. Some of you may still be annoyed with him. Or maybe this'll make you more annoyed at Lily. I'm not sure. But, either way, I hope you enjoy... _

* * *

><p>It was the first time I'd stayed at my parents' house after Lily and I ended things (for the final time, it seemed) and I sorely regretted the decision. My mother seemed more distraught over the end of our relationship than I was – which was saying something.<p>

"Honestly, Scorpius, if you just _talked_ to her," my mother was saying, as she stirred a few lumps of sugar into her teacup. "I think you really didn't give her a chance -."

"Mum," I cut in, with a weary sigh. "I have given Lily plenty of chances. She just…" I paused, because I wasn't exactly sure how to complete the thought. "… She just needs space and she's happier this way…."

I thought back to the last few months of our relationship. Lily would come back from some exotic place or another, her eyes alight with excitement, and she would go on and on about how much fun she was having and what a wonderful experience it all was. I was lonely and missing her terribly, but all she could think about was her next trip and everything she'd get to see.

Then, the day came when she looked across me at the dinner table and said it wasn't working, and I had no choice but to agree with her. Because it wasn't – we were at two completely different places in our lives. She had to figure herself out and I was sick and tired of waiting for her to do it.

I didn't say any of that to my mother. Instead, I just finished, in a brisk tone, "I just think it's not meant to be."

My mother cast a sharp look my way. "What does that mean? What romantic nonsense. Relationships aren't _easy_. You don't just sit back and wait for them to work out. Why, if your father and I had approached our marriage with THAT attitude, well -."

"Not the same thing, Mum. And can we drop this?"

My mother pursed her lips and took a sip of her tea, her expression disapproving. I ignored her and focused on my own breakfast and I made a show of rifling through the _Daily Prophet_, signifying that I was finished with the conversation.

My mother wasn't to be dissuaded. "Maybe you can go visit her. I can go with you; I've always wanted to see the States!"

Irritated, I looked at her over the newspaper and scowled at her. "No one is going to the States, Mum. And why are you so insistent about this? I will, eventually, go out with someone else and find you a new girl to parade around at your charity events."

She looked hurt and offended. In a stiff tone, she said, "That is not what it's about, at all." She looked down at her hand and said, in a quiet voice, "I miss her, that's all. We spent quite a bit of time together and she was…" my mother's voice trailed off and she finished, "… it was different here. It was nice."

A bit taken aback by that, I leaned back in my chair and studied her for a moment. It was only then I realized she was holding onto the broach she usually wore. One hand was clutching it tightly, and she kept fiddling with the clasp, opening and closing it. It appeared she'd taken it off to look at the picture inside it. I knew what the broach held. A picture of my sister – the one that had been born after me and died when she was five months old.

My mom always carried it with her, in some form, but she never talked about her. Not that there was much to say. The Malfoys had a curse that had been on my family for years – in every generation, only one heir would survive and it was always a male. All other children never made it past six months. In fact, it was my understanding that my mother had several miscarriages even before I was born and her pregnancy with my sister had been terrible. The little girl died when was I was about six, so I still had a few memories of her and how sad my parents had been when she died.

Keeping this all in mind, my tone was gentle when I said, "Mum… I know you want me to settle down and give you a daughter-in-law." My mother's brows rose at my blunt comment and I added, wryly, "Although you've hidden it so well. But Lily is not that girl."

_As much as I would have loved her to be_, I thought silently.

Then, I focused on the newspaper again, hoping it would signal the end of our conversation. When I got to the second page, I stopped, my mouth dry. There was Lily, staring up at me. Rather, she was laughing about something. Almost greedily, my eyes scanned her features in the fuzzy _Daily Prophet_ picture. And then I frowned. She was sitting on some sort of stool and some giant git had his arms wrapped around her. On closer inspection, I saw that he was helping her milk a cow. Some milk sprayed onto her face and she laughed; he then wiped off the milk with a stupidedly besotted look on his face. In horror, I stared down at it for a few moments while the scene played out in an endless loop.

Almost blindly, I started to scan through the article and saw that the git was Eric, Elaina's brother, and Lily had apparently just spent two lovely and fun-filled days with him in Texas. My mouth tightened and I tossed the paper aside. That was just perfect. Here I was, trying to forcefully hold down my mother from chasing after her, unable to even go back to my own flat because all I could think about was Lily, and there SHE was – hanging out with some Texan prat. It was just like her – it was exactly the same sort of thing she did back in Hogwarts. When I kissed her, she went off and found Michael Wright within months. And I'd heard from Albus she'd dated some Gryffindor bloke during her seventh year.

I had hoped that our relationship had evolved beyond that, but – clearly – I had been hoping for too much. I tried to tamp down the jealousy I was feeling at the moment, to try to be level-headed, but all I could think about was the last few months of our relationship and how Lily had wanted to be anywhere but London. I had been such a fool.

"What's wrong?" My mother looked at me anxiously and then down at the discarded newspaper. Before I could stop her, she'd picked it up and read the article, and then she studied the picture of Lily and Eric. She glanced back up at me when she was done. "This doesn't mean anything, Scorpius. This is her job."

"Well," I responded, tightly, "her job was the reason we ended things, Mum, so it's not like I really care."

My mother nodded slowly and then let out a long sigh. "Well, I suppose you can't force these things. In my day, we just had arranged marriages and we were done with it. I had thought that if you went out and found a girl, it would just be so much easier… and, then, of course, Lily was such a lovely girl. Polite, nice, friendly… really, it's going to be so much more difficult for me to find you someone."

My brows furrowed in confusion. "You don't need you to find me someone. I'll work it out myself, thanks."

My mother fixed me with a stern look. "You're almost twenty-five, Scorpius."

"I am aware of that," I responded, and then took a bite of toast. I knew where this was headed.

Sure enough, her next words were, "Your father and I were already married and starting a family by this time."

"It was a different time then, wasn't it?" I pointed out, tersely, putting down my toast.

"No. Not really," my mother answered. "Things are still the same, Scorpius. You're still the only heir and you have an obligation to…."

I tuned her out. I'd heard this lecture many times before. Because of the curse, no Malfoy was ever allowed to remain single for long. My own father had gotten married at age twenty-one – my mother was only nineteen at the time – and the expectation was that they would immediately turn their attention to two things: running the company and making more gold and, secondly, making sure the bloodline was secure by having the next heir. My entire life, I'd laughed it off, because who thinks about these sorts of things when they're in school? But, now, I hear the clock was ticking and felt the weight of responsibility and expectations settling on my shoulders. I'd already turned my back on the first expectation by becoming an Auror. How could I explain to my mother that I had no intention of following through on the second unless it was on my own terms?

"It's all right, Mum," I said to her, as I pushed my plate away and began to get up. "These things always have a way of working out."

And then I left before she could ask me what I meant. Because I wasn't quite sure myself.

**xxx**

A few months later, I found myself in an awkward position. The Ministry was holding a ball in honor of Kingsley Shacklebolt. He had once been the head of the Auror department and the Minister for Magic. He'd just announced his retirement and the Ministry had decided to bid him adieu with much fanfare and a lifetime achievement award. Normally, Ministry employees could beg off of these sorts of functions, but this time, it was well known that it was expected that the entire Auror department would be there in full force.

"So, who are you taking, then?" Elaina asked me one day, as we sat at a small table near the canteen, grabbing a quick lunch.

"No one," I told her honestly.

She gave me a pitying look as she speared her fork through a piece of salad. "Please don't tell me you're still pining over Lily."

"All right, I won't," I answered readily, as I took a swallow of my pumpkin juice.

"Scorpius!" Elaina looked incredibly disapproving. "It's been over three months. I love Lily and everything, but she's gone. She's moved on. You need to get ON with your life."

"Three months is not that long," I responded, with a light shrug.

"Look, I know she's supposed to be the love of your life and everything," Elaina started.

"She's not," I negated vehemently, sitting up straighter and fixing her with a quelling stare. "No, she's really not."

Elaina's brows rose and she ignored my look. It was irritating beyond belief that she had so many brothers that my intimidating stare didn't intimidate her.

She continued as though I hadn't interrupted. "You didn't shave for weeks after she left, you barely left the flat except to go to work, girls have asked you out right in front of me and you don't even realize they EXIST, let alone taking them up on it. You doing this all this over a girl you're not in love with?"

"I love her, but she's not the love of my life," I corrected. "And, besides, I wasn't interested in any of those girls. They're…." I hesitated, because I was going to say, _they're not like Lily_. But I realized that would be proving Elaina's point, so I kept silent.

"Oh, Malfoy," Elaina looked at me with an odd expression. "You said 'love', as in present tense. You're still in love with her. I knew it."

"Well, of course." Now I was started to get annoyed. After all, we'd been in a serious relationship. Love didn't just die like that, did it? You didn't just wake up one day and tell yourself to stop loving someone just because they'd rather go find some cowboy in Texas to hang about with instead of you. I mean, honestly. If I had that kind of control of my emotions, I'd never have gotten involved with Lily Potter to begin with. "I'm not some sort of Muggle robot, Elaina. It'll take time. But that doesn't mean she's the love of my life and I'm going to spend the rest of eternity pining over her."

"Right. So you have to start somewhere. Just start slow," Elaina advised. She took the last bite of her salad and then added, "Find someone to take to this ball. Work your way up."

"Who are you taking?" I asked her, thoughtfully. "Why can't we just go together?"

"That's not starting slow!" Elaina pelted me with an empty bag of crisps. "That's like taking your sister, instead of finding a real date. Go find a REAL date… a woman who actually could end up being something more."

"I'll think about it," I told her, even though I knew I had no intention of doing so.

**xxx**

When my mother heard about the ball, she immediately began running through a list of possibilities for a date. Up to that point, she'd been rather supportive of my decision not to date, but the ball seemed to be the turning point. And she started to harass me about moving on in earnest.

I tried ignoring her for a while, but when it became too difficult, I just stopped going back to the Manor for dinner. One evening, I couldn't avoid her since she needed to go to some charity function and my father had to back out at the last minute due to business obligations. He sent me a Patronus and asked me to fill in as her escort.

When we got to the boring event, I was ready for the evening to be over well before it had even begun. But I fixed a smile to my lips and sat at the dinner table, acting like the charity auction was the most fascinating thing I'd ever encountered.

"Now, we move on to item number 5420," the auctioneer continued, in his nasal, droning voice. "This is a beautiful piece. A necklace said to have been worn by Morgana le Fey herself. The diamond and sapphire necklace has been authenticated by Borgin and Burkes, and they certify that it is charm and hex-free. However, it is still imbued with ancient magic and could be quite powerful in the hands of the right owner. We'll begin bidding at fifty galleons…."

Two women, one at least a decade older than my mother and the other about my age, immediately shot their wands up, each shooting a spark in the air. I turned away, already quite bored, to focus on my wine and glanced down at my watch.

A dark-haired young woman, whose name I had already forgotten, had been seated next to me at the dinner table. And, for the most part, she'd been rather quiet during the proceedings. But now, she leaned in closer to me and whispered, "You see those two witches who are bidding on the necklace?"

Startled, I looked down at her. "Yes."

"Well, one is Mrs. Byron, the wife." The young woman indicated towards the older woman, who was bidding intensely, her wand shooting in the air every few seconds. She leaned in even closer, her voice barely audible and I had to strain to hear here. "And the other one is Priscilla Livingston, the mistress of Mr. Byron. Every year, they find the same thing to bid on and then spend an hour fighting over it. It's the only time the two even acknowledge the other exists."

I glanced over at the two women again and saw that, indeed, there was a look of determination and focus on each woman's face that went beyond the usual zeal one found at these sorts of events. The wife, in particular, was turning an odd shade of red. "That's terrible," I responded, before I could stop myself.

"Terrible?" She leaned back and gave me a curious look. "How so?"

I felt a bit embarrassed for my gaffe, but I answered honestly, "I think it's terrible that he has a mistress. And that everyone knows about it. What a terrible position to be in."

She stared at me for a moment and then smiled a bit. "Terrible? Most men say that Byron's a lucky bastard. They envy him."

"Most men," I told her, in a solemn voice, "are idiots. Personally, I'm smart enough to know it's hard enough to deal with one woman. Why on earth would I want to deal with two?"

At that, she let out a laugh, her blue eyes sparkling a bit. "Ah, I see. So, it's really about you, then. Spoken as a man – you would never seek out a mistress not because it's the dishonorable thing to do. Rather, you feel like it would cause you a more trouble than you're accustomed to."

I grinned at that. "No, I would never take on a mistress because I would never marry a woman that would make me want one."

"Ah, you're a romantic, then." She smiled at me, but the smile her eyes seemed to die down a bit.

"I don't think it's romantic to never look at another woman again once you're married," I said to her, thoughtfully. "It just seems like the way it should be."

"Not in our society," she rejoined. Glancing about the large banquet hall, she added, "They are hardly the only mistress and wife pair in the room."

"It doesn't make it all right," I answered, lightly. "What's the point in getting married if you're off to find someone else minutes after the ceremony? Clearly, you didn't love the woman enough to begin with, so why enter into that marriage?"

"There are other reasons," she said, quietly, looking down at her plate, "to marry. Especially amongst our crowd. It's not always about love. Or even honor."

It had started out as a very light conversation, but now it was venturing into quite heavy and personal territory. So, I said, in a joking voice, "Have you been talking to my mother, by any chance?"

She seemed to sense the change in my tone, because she grinned at me. "No. I mean, I have spoken to your mother before, but not about this. She raised her voice a bit higher from the hushed whispers we'd been employing. "I'm Cassandra Pembroke, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Cassandra," I told her, sincerely. I took another sip of my wine and added, "I'm Scorpius Malfoy."

"I know." She looked me over and added, after a faint hesitation, "We were at Hogwarts together. We were both in Slytherin."

We had? I honestly didn't remember her. I didn't know how to tell her that without hurting her feelings, but I said, "Oh… right… I…."

"It's all right," she cut in, her cheeks flushed a soft pink. "I was two years behind you. And, as much as it broke my heart in fourth year, you never noticed the girls who were behind you at Hogwarts."

I couldn't help but smile at that, while I looked down at my glass. Little did she know how _much_ I had noticed a certain fourth year girl who had been two years behind me at Hogwarts. But I didn't say that to Cassandra. Instead, I said, lightly, "It broke your heart? I'm flattered."

Cassandra shook her head and said, in a teasing tone, "Don't be. It was a short-lived crush. Only lasted a month."

"Ah. Now I'm the one who's heart-broken," I answered, with a half-grin.

Cassandra let out a laugh at that. Then, before we could continue the conversation, people all around us burst into applause and I realized that the auction had ended. Thankfully, the evening was almost over.

**xxx**

The brief, hushed conversation Cassandra and I had engaged in had not gone unnoticed by her mother, apparently, which meant that it didn't go unnoticed by my mother. I attempted to explain to my mother that, regardless of how Cassandra's mother felt about it, I did not think a short conversation at an auction warranted that I extend an invitation to Cassandra for a boring Ministry function. My mother completely disagreed.

Late one night, I sat by the fireplace nursing a firewhiskey and wondered why I put myself through the torture of coming to the Manor for weekends. As I stared into the fire, I was bit honest with myself and knew that the answer was that I hated going back to my flat. Even though Lily had only been there as short time, I felt like I saw her everywhere. It seemed like I was constantly finding something of hers either lodged in the bureau or left in the wardrobe. Just last week, I'd dropped something and there, under the sofa, I found an old container of her strawberry flavored lip gloss.

I either needed to move out of that flat or figure out a way to get it cleaned thoroughly. I could probably have gotten Ezki or one of our other house elves to go through a clean it, but I didn't like giving that sort of an order to them. What was I going to say to the house elf that had raised me with such love and care? _"Ezki, please go through my flat and erase all traces of my ex-girlfriend. Thanks, I owe you one."_ She'd do it, but then she'd scold me and also tell my mother, who would be convinced I wasn't over Lily and then my mother would attempt to contact Lily on my behalf or something equally stupid.

I was on my third shot of firewhiskey and was really starting to feel like I was utterly pathetic when the fire roared green and I saw my father walk out of through the fireplace. He brushed the ashes from his travelling robe and then started to shrug the robe off. As he tossed the robe onto a chair, he finally noticed me.

He visibly started. "Scorpius! What are you doing up?" And, then, he frowned, "And here? You're not at your flat?"

"Decided to spend the weekend here, Dad," I answered, a little wearily. "Easier than apparating back to London."

"Right." My father nodded and then pointed his wand towards the bar, pouring himself a healthy shot of firewhiskey. The glass came soaring to him and he caught it. After he'd taken a swallow, he sat down on the large, dragon-hide armchair across from mine and added, "How are you?"

My father looked tired; more so than usual. He appeared to have new lines and seemed rather over-worked. "How are _you_? Why are you coming back at…" I glanced down at my watch and finished, "…three in the morning?"

"Work." My father grimaced and took another swallow of his drink. "Meeting ran late. Mergers and acquisitions don't just happen by themselves, you know."

"Are you merging or acquiring?" I asked, with a slight grin.

"Acquiring." My father nodded and stared down at his glass. "A couple of factories, actually. Owner is a bloke named Pembroke. He's been questioning every last sickle and knut of the deal."

"Pembroke?" I groaned out loud. "That's the last name I want to hear right now."

"Oh?" My father's brow rose questioningly. "Why is that?"

Quickly, I ran through the last few conversations I'd had with my mother. When I was finished, my father was laughing and he'd moved onto his second glass of firewhiskey and topped my glass up again.

"Ah, yes," he said, with a genuine grin. "Your mother is rather worried about you. Seems to think the Malfoy bloodline is going to die because you can't get over Lily Potter."

I stared at him blankly. "That's ridiculous."

"Is it?" Dad stared at me thoughtfully for a long moment. "We don't have much experience with these sorts of things, I'm afraid. As you know, your mother and I had an arranged marriage. Your grandparents did, as well." He drank down the contents of his glass and quickly poured himself another. "And we married young."

"Yes, I know," I answered rather darkly. It had never really bothered me before, but now it was beginning to chafe. "But that doesn't mean I have to do it that way. And on your schedule."

"No, of course not," he replied, rather agreeably. "But your mother means well, of course. She doesn't like seeing you hurt and broken up over this relationship. And so she's trying to help the best way she can."

"I know." And I did know. That's why I found it difficult to get angry with her. "But… I wish she'd let up."

"I can talk to her, if you'd like," my father offered. But then he frowned at me and added, "But I can't say I understand it, myself. Why not just take this girl to this bloody Ministry thing? You need a date and she seems ideally suited to the task. What's the worst that can happen? If you have a boring night of it, just cut it short and be done with it."

I snorted into my glass. That was my father, through and through. Always pragmatic and practical. I wondered how he would react if I told him that I felt like I was cheating on Lily by going out on a date, even though we were no longer seeing each other and I knew just as much about her life as the average reader of the _Daily Prophet_. He'd probably consider me a romantic fool. And, honestly, I was beginning to feel like I was one. Had I really thought it would be that easy? That I would meet a girl so young and then, like some sort of a perfect dream, she'd come with this wonderful family and accept me for who I was and we'd fall in love and be married? Did it actually work out that way for anyone? I thought about Albus, who was still madly in love with Sabena, and wondered if only worked out that way for other families. Maybe the Malfoys really were only cut out for arranged marriages. Perhaps my ancestors had always had the right idea.

I looked across at my father, who appeared lost in his own world, and I said, rather abruptly, "You're right. I'll take her."

**xxx**

Cassandra looked about the grand ballroom a bit curiously and said, "It's very lovely. Much larger than I expected. And SO many people!"

Curious, I glanced over at her. "You say that as though you haven't been to these sorts of things before."

"I haven't," she confessed, looking towards me with a slightly anxious look. "I mean, I've attended a few of my mother's charity functions, but nothing this grand or large. And Ministry events? Dear Merlin, I tend to avoid these at all costs."

"Why is that?" I asked her, as I guided her towards a large group of people that included quite a few people I knew, including Albus, Sabena, and Rose. "Isn't this exactly the sort of thing a Pembroke would be interested in?" I added, in a bit of a teasing tone.

A shadow crossed across her eyes. "Yes, it is. But I… it's hard to explain."

"Oi, Scorp!" Al caught of sight of me and lifted up his glass with one hand in greeting, his other arm being occupied since it was around Sabena's waist. "Wondering when you were going to get here."

"Seriously." Rose made a face and took a sip of the punch she was holding. "Someone needs to spike this thing. It's disgusting."

"And you thought I was the perfect candidate?" I asked Rose, my brow rising slightly. "Wouldn't James be better suited for that?"

"Probably." Rose looked around with a frown. "But I don't think he's here, yet. That's if he even shows."

"He'll show," Albus told her with certainty. "Auror Shacklebolt was Dad's mentor and saved his life more than once. All Potters are _required_ to be here or Dad will have our head." Then he thought for a second and added, in an off-hand way, "Except Lily, of course. But she's off in some rain forest, so I reckon he thinks that's a decent excuse."

My heart jumped a bit when he uttered the name, and in an attempt to change the subject, amongst other things, I said, hastily, "Er… everyone, this is Cassandra. Cassandra, this is Rose, Albus, and Sabena, Al's fiancée."

Everyone said hello, but Sabena had a peculiar look on her face. Assessing Cassandra a little frankly, she finally uttered, in a horrified voice, "You're CASSIE Pembroke!"

Cassandra stiffened next to me. "I don't…" she glanced my way and finished, "I don't go by that, anymore."

Sabena didn't seem to care. Her response was to say, in a tart voice, "Whatever you go by, you're still the same witch that turned my sister's face green when she was in fourth year! She was in the hospital ward for two weeks!"

Rose exclaimed, "That was YOU? Oh… wait… I remember now." Rose frowned and glanced at Sabena, "Wasn't it because that one Gryffindor asked your sister out instead of Pembroke?"

"Yes," Sabena bit out, tightly, her angry gaze never leaving Cassandra's. "She didn't even say 'yes' to the stupid prat. But this… this…"

"Wait." I held up my hand to cut her off. Completely perplexed by the direction of conversation, I turned to Sabena and said, sharply, "What are you going on about?"

Cassandra put her hand on my sleeve, as though to stop me from going on. "No, it's OK. She's right." Cassandra looked miserable. "I did. I did do that." Taking a deep breath, she looked directly at Sabena. "I am so sorry. If your sister were here, I'd apologize to her, as well. If there was any way I could make up for it, I would."

"Well," Rose answered, as though she were giving it some thought, while she fingered her wand, "We could turn YOUR face green right now." Glancing at Sabena, she added, "I know it would make ME feel better, Sabena. What about you?"

"No one is turning anyone's face green," I said, firmly, shooting a dirty look Rose's way. "That was a long time ago."

"Not that long ago," Sabena answered, still looking like she was about to take Rose up on her suggestion.

I shot Albus a look, as if to say, _Can you do something about this? _

Sometimes it's worth having a best mate that spent years sharing a room with you. Albus immediately said, "Oh, look, I see my parents. Sabena, we should go say hello." He set down his glass on a passing tray and then grabbed Rose's arm with the other hand. "Rose, my mum was just asking about you the other day. You should come with us."

Although both them knew exactly what Albus was doing, they still allowed him to steer them away towards Auror and Mrs. Potter, who had just arrived and were talking to the current Minister for Magic.

Once they were gone, I cast a sheepish look towards Cassandra. "I apologize. They're normally not -."

"It's okay," she broke in, still looking rather miserable. "I'm used to it. This is why I tend to never come to Ministry events. Amongst other reasons." She gazed up at me a little earnestly. "I know you need to be here for work, Scorpius, so I can certainly find my own way back home."

"You want to go home?" I looked down at her and saw how much care she'd put into wearing a nice dress, with her dark hair upswept in what seemed like a complicated hairstyle. I felt bad for her; she'd seemed so excited when we'd first entered the ballroom. "Come on, it can't be that bad."

"No, it's not," Cassandra replied, looking down at her silver shoes. "It's just that I wasn't… your friends were right, Scorp. I wasn't a very nice person at Hogwarts. And – usually – there's someone I bump into at these sorts of things that takes great pleasure in reminding me of it." With a weak smile, she looked back up at me, "It's been almost six years. I'd hoped it was safe now, when you asked me, but I guess reputation is one those things that's hard to run away from."

I nodded, slowly, as I thought about how unfair it was. "Well, I didn't know you then," I told her, rather honestly. "So, if you don't mind spending the evening with ME, then I think we should just stay. Why waste that perfectly lovely dress?"

Cassandra glanced down at her blue dress and then back up at me shyly. "You like it?"

I hadn't really thought about it, but I answered, "Of course. You look beautiful."

Her blue eyes lit up and she grinned at me. "Thank you. And, yes, if you don't mind hanging about a social pariah, then I would love to stay."

"Trust me, being a social pariah is not new to me," I told her reassuringly.

She slipped her hand through my arm and let me steer towards the bar. Thankfully, the next hour or so went by relatively easily. We didn't bump into any more old cohorts from Hogwarts who seemed to have an old rivalry to dredge up. I introduced her to Elaina, knowing my partner was the friendliest person in the room. Sure enough, Elaina was talking to her like they were old friends within minutes.

I was slightly bored, but I was thankful that the evening wasn't as much of a mitigated disaster I'd thought it would be. Then, two people walked towards us and I was soon proven wrong.

"Malfoy!"

I was in the process of ordering another drink and I turned towards the person who'd called my name. And, inwardly, I winced. It was Wesley Lerwick. His father was the current Minister for Magic and I knew for a fact that Wesley hoped to follow in his father's footsteps. He'd been ahead of me at Hogwarts – he was in James' year – but I knew him a lot better than I wanted to. Because of my family's wealth, he seemed to have gotten it into his head that my support was imperative to his future as a Ministry employee. So, he found ways to bump into me at the Ministry and it was always difficult to shake him off.

Forcing a smile to my lips, I lied smoothly, "Wesley! So good to see you again."

"Likewise," he answered, with a bit of a nod. He indicated towards the tall, young woman standing next to him. "I don't think you've met my fiancée, Daphne?"

I nodded at her. "Nice to meet you, Daphne." I turned towards Cassandra, who was still immersed in a conversation with Elaina. "This is my…." I hesitated and then shrugged, saying truthfully, "… my date, Cassandra. And my partner, Elaina."

At the interruption, both Cassandra and Elaina turned to look at Wesley. Elaina gave him an easy smile, "Nice to meet you. How do you know Malfoy?"

But Cassandra was silent and I saw all the color drain from her face as she stared at Wesley. Confused, I shot a look towards him and saw that he'd completely ignored Elaina's comment, and he was also looking a little pale as he stared back at Cassandra.

Clearly, they had a history. I didn't need to be a genius Auror to figure that out. Even Elaina was eyeing both of them with curious expression and she shot me a look, with a raised brow, as if to ask if I knew what was going on. Imperceptibly, I shook my head at her.

Daphne, Wesley's fiancée, was the first to break the silence. "Cassie Pembroke. I wasn't expecting to see you here." She took Wesley's hand in her own and gave Cassandra a cold look. "I was under the impression you didn't really attend these sorts of functions. Decided to come out of hiding, did you?" No one could mistake the contemptuous thread in her tone.

Cassandra took a deep breath. "Excuse me," she said to no one in particular. "I think I need… I need some fresh air." With that, she disappeared into the surrounded crowd so quickly, one would have thought she'd apparated out.

Elaina looked just as perplexed as I felt. An awkward silence descended on our little group and it was clear that Wesley was trying to get a hold of himself. His fiancée was not looking happy and I was starting to get concerned.

"I think I'll go check on her," I told them. "It was good to see you again, Wesley." I hurried away before I caught his response, if he even gave one.

It took a while to navigate the very crowded ballroom. Cassandra was fairly petite, so she didn't really stand out. I kept my eyes out for her, but didn't see her anywhere. At one point, I saw a tall, redhead and I quickly went up to her.

"Rose, have you seen Cassandra?" I asked urgently.

"No." Rose gave me a strange look. "I'm glad I caught you alone, though. What are you THINKING, Scorp? She's your DATE?"

I wasn't in the mood to argue with Rose over this. "Yes, yes, I know, she turned some girl green at school. It's not a big deal, Rose. Mind I remind you of the long list of things YOU did at Hogwarts?"

Rose frowned. "I was never cruel, though. And that wasn't what I was going to say, anyway. Setting aside what a bitch she was at school, she was also known for getting around, if you know what I mean. Ask her why she skipped her seventh year at Hogwarts."

"No." I was starting to get very annoyed. "It's none of my business. And, furthermore, I don't think that a person should be judged on what they did in sixth or seventh year for the rest of their lives."

Rose's expression softened. "No, probably not. But this is serious. And, frankly, you're only dating her because you're looking for the exact opposite of Lily, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you, did I?" I shot back, through gritted teeth. "Now, excuse me, I have to go find my DATE."

I turned my back on her and went off in search of Cassandra, intent of making sure she was all right. Whether or not we were actually dating, I couldn't help but feel responsible for the poor girl. After all, she'd been ready to leave and I'd talked her into staying. I finally managed to find her outside, in the gardens. She was sitting on the ground, near a long row of tulips, and crying.

"Er… Cassandra?" Feeling at a loss on what to do, I just approached her and handed her the handkerchief I carried with me everywhere. "Do you want me to get you a glass of water?"

She took the handkerchief and shook her head, silently, while she tried to get control of her tears. "No."

I knelt down next to her and put my hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

I smiled at that. "Yes, it seems that way. I mean, it's been my experience that all women who sit in the middle of a flower garden decked out in formal ball gowns, crying hysterically, are always fine."

Cassandra gave me a watery smile. "All right, well, maybe I'm having some issues."

"Such as?" I asked, quietly.

Cassandra looked out over the garden and back towards the ballroom, from where we could hear the sound of music and laughter floating out into the warm spring evening. "It's a long story, Scorpius."

I settled down next to her, trying to ignore that I was getting dirt and grass all over my dress robes. "If you want me to, I have time. If not, I'm happy to take you home."

Swallowing audibly, she let out a long, quivering sigh. And, then, in almost flat voice stated, "The last time I saw Wesley was in my sixth year. I'd just found out I was pregnant. And, he met me outside his house. His parents were furious. He was never allowed to see me again. And he…he gave me a potion. To take care of the problem, he said. Because he's going to be Minster for Magic and I was under-age and the scandal…." Her breath caught and she took a shuddering breath. "This was the first time I've seen him since then. I was so stupid," she added, suddenly looking furious with herself. "This is why I avoid these Ministry things. What was I thinking? I should have known he'd be here. And with that pig of a fiancée no less."

My eyes widened, I was horrified by what she'd just revealed. He'd been nineteen and she'd been sixteen. I couldn't believe that a person could do that. How could he just absolve responsibility like that?

Cassandra mistook my silence. She looked pale and regretful. "Sorry, I didn't mean to just let that all out. You probably think I'm absolutely mental -."

"No," I cut in, quickly. "I don't. I was just thinking that I should hex good old Wesley the next time I bump into him at the Ministry."

"Thank you. But it's not necessary. Honestly." But she was smiling a bit as she stared down at the handkerchief.

I sat with her, silently, for several long minutes.

"I had the baby," she said, breaking the silence, while she picked a tulip from the garden. She started pulling out one petal after another. "My parents sent me to Scandinavia to go live with my aunt there. The baby… we gave her up for adoption." Cassandra was staring off into the distance again. "I couldn't keep her, of course. And, then, I came back. I had missed most of my seventh year at Hogwarts, so I decided to just end it… no point in going back."

I nodded in understanding.

"It didn't matter," she told me, a little sadly. "I didn't really have any friends left, anyway. They'd moved on… and when I came back, I wasn't the same. The things they were interested in… I don't know… I just didn't care, anymore."

Again, I nodded, not really knowing what to say to that.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you all this," she said, suddenly, with a dry laugh. She turned to me, with uncertainty in her blue eyes. "I'm so sorry. It's just that… I think… my parents don't let me talk about this and I don't really have any friends -."

"Yes, you do," I said, quietly. I put my hand her hand, causing it to stop moving as she tore away at the flower. "You've got one." I smiled at her gently. "So, you want to go back in and show him that you don't care about him or do you want me to take you home?"

Cassandra hesitated. "You should go on in. I've already ruined your evening enough."

"My evening was ruined the second I had to attend a Ministry ball," I told her, in complete honesty. "You couldn't ruin it more even if you tried."

She let out a reluctant laugh at that. "If you're sure? I'd rather go home."

Standing up, I brushed off the dirt from my robes as best I could and then I held out my hand to her, helping her to her feet. I smiled down at her. "Let's get you home."

**xxx**

As time went on, I began seeing Cassandra. I wasn't quite sure how it happened. It started out with us just getting together for coffee or tea and then slowly progressed to dinner. I was fairly busy at work, and Cassandra wasn't very demanding about seeing me. Our time together was pleasant, nothing earth shattering, but I enjoyed her company.

I could tell she was deeply lonely. Her relationship with her parents had been fraught since they found out about the baby. They never wanted to think about it again, and expected her to behave like a perfect Pembroke to atone for her mistakes. From what I could gather, that consisted of making a brilliant match and attending numerous charity events. Her entire life, her parents had adored and spoiled her, so this new dynamic almost crushed her. She couldn't figure out what to do to get them to forgive her. Knowing what it was like to be an only child - and to have all your parents' expectations weighing only on your shoulders - I could empathize.

From what I gathered, she'd been an incurable romantic when she was younger; steadfast in the belief that every boy she fell in love with was going to be her soul mate. When she'd started dating in Wesley in secret, he'd fulfilled every romantic notion she'd ever carried. He was older and he'd known how to sweep her off her feet. When she got pregnant, her world came crashing down and now she felt romanticism was over-rated and there was no such thing as love.

For the most part, she was very reserved and, even when she laughed, I sensed a deep sadness in her. About six months in, we slept together, although it was awkward at first. She was self-conscious of her body, because I was the first person she'd seriously dated after coming back from Scandinavia. For my part, I was hesitant, because she was the first person I'd slept with who wasn't Lily in a long time.

If things weren't ideal, if there was a part of me that missed how things were with Lily, I didn't let myself dwell on it. After all, things were going along fairly well with Cassandra and I felt like I couldn't miss something I'd never had. Lily had made her choices and I had made mine. And now, we both had to live our lives based on them, with no regrets. Cassandra was a perfectly lovely person, who was rather uncomplicated and was content to follow my lead. Neither one of us wanted more from the other person than what we could give. And I was grateful to her for that.

Then, after a particularly brutal week of long hours at work, my team and I were ambushed and I ended up in St. Mungo's for three weeks. Just as I was getting ready to finally be discharged, I heard a soft voice behind me and my perfectly ordered world turned upside down.

"Thank goodness you're all right."

I turned to face her, slowly. "Lily? What are you doing here?"

She came into the room, closing the door behind her. "Well, when I got Mum's owl, I decided to come see you. I mean, she made it seem like you might die, so…."

I looked her over. She'd looked the same and yet, different. She was wearing the typical attire she used to wear when going into the _Daily Prophet_ offices, but her hair was pulled back in a tame knot at her nape. She looked slightly tanned, with a few more freckles scattered across her nose. She looked more slender than usual, but she was fuller in the hips. "Where were you?" I finally asked, managing to find my voice again.

"In China."

"You came here all the way from China?" Exasperated, I shook his head. "You could have just Floo'd Albus. He would have told you I was all right. Everyone made a fuss for no reason."

She stepped back and seemed to consider me for a moment. I supposed it was her turn to study me. In a serious voice, she replied, "I don't know about that."

My jaw clenched, as I tried to figure out what I was supposed to make of this. "You didn't need to come, Lily."

"Well, I tend to care about whether or not you live or die, Scorpius. I mean, honestly." She looked annoyed, which I thought was rather hypocritical of her.

"Of course, I know that," I answered, picking up my jacket to avoid her discerning gaze. "But… still."

Lily just shook her head. "I was due to be back in London, anyway," she replied, by way of explanation. "So, really, it was no trouble."

That made more sense. I looked her over again and realized she must have stopped by on her way to the office. I felt a strange mixture of relief and regret. "Lily…." I stopped, not knowing exactly what to say. "We…."

Before I could figure it out, Cassandra came in. I winced. Cassandra knew I'd dated Lily, but we didn't talk about it much. When I'd first told her about how we'd broken up, Cassandra had been convinced that Lily had broken my heart and that she was my soul mate. I'd told Cassandra she was still too much of a romantic and we were never talking about it again. Cassandra had laughed and said avoidance of the topic was a clear indication that I wasn't over Lily.

"Good news, Scorpius," she started, as she walked in, "I managed to find Healer Robbins and he agreed to stop by with your discharge paperwork immediately. Really, I can't imagine what -." She noticed Lily and broke off, with an annoyed look. "Oh, I didn't realize we had company. Are you an Auror? Poor Scorpius was injured in the line of duty – can't you people leave him alone for even a few days?"

"No, I'm not an Auror." Lily was looking Cassandra over and she got a strange expression on her face. "You're Cassie Pembroke."

"Cassandra," she corrected, stiffly. "I don't go by Cassie, anymore." Then Cass seemed to be trying to place Lily. "How do you -?"

Lily glanced over at me and I resisted an urge to laugh at the expression on her face.

"We were in the same year at Hogwarts," Lily reminded her. "I was in Ravenclaw; you were in Slytherin."

Cassandra seemed to take a minute to digest this. She'd told me that she didn't know Lily very well and that they hadn't really spoken or interacted at the few charity functions my mother had dragged her to. Not that it was surprising; Cassandra detested those things with a passion and avoided most everyone who attended at all costs. She would have no reason to seek out Lily and talk to her. And Lily had been rather anti-social at those events herself.

I was just about to tell Cassandra who Lily was, when she made the connection herself. "Wait, are you… Lily? Lily Potter?"

Lily nodded. "Yes."

Cassandra nodded herself and then she walked up to me. She slid her hand through mine, linking our arms together. With a slight smile, she said, "How nice of you to stop by to say hello. But, you know, we were just getting ready to leave."

I almost groaned. I knew what Cassandra was doing. She was trying to make Lily feel bad because she thought Lily deserved it for breaking my heart. Between Lily's temper and Cassandra's tendency to romanticize everything, this could end in bloodshed.

I cleared my throat, trying to get her attention. Looking down at Cassandra, I said, pointedly, "You know, I think I could use a cup of tea before we go. Would you get it for me?"

Cassandra clearly looked like she was going to say no, and also like she was holding back her laughter. "Of course, love."

Before I could ask where _that_ had come from, she pressed a kiss on my lips before leaving. I thought I caught a wink from her before she turned away, but I wasn't sure.

Lily, for her part, let out a loud sigh and rolled her eyes.

Cassandra had barely shut the door behind her when Lily exclaimed, "Seriously? _Her_? You're dating _her_?"

I winced. Hopefully, Cassandra hadn't heard that. "Don't say it like that. She's a perfectly lovely person."

"But her mother hates your mother! Ivana Pembroke was an absolute boar to your mother at all those charity events. I know – I was there!"

"Actually, it was our mothers who suggested it," I said, rather truthfully. "Not that it's any of your -."

"What?" Lily looked puzzled. "Why would your mother do that? I thought she liked me."

"Well, we're no longer together, Lily," I answered, thinking it was odd I had to point out the obvious. "And she does like you. I think she was more devastated than me when we stopped seeing each other."

Lily didn't look like she believed me. "Then why on earth would she put you with… with… _that_ girl? Her mother's a witch, in the other sense of the word, not the magical kind."

"I'm not dating her mother, am I?" I shot back, because I didn't have much else to say. I really didn't like Cassandra's mother. I shrugged uncomfortably. "And… well… actually, her family has been rather nice to my family over the past year or so."

"Right. That's not surprising," Lily answered, flatly. "Of course they have. Because of me. Ivana Pembroke decided to finally start letting your mother into the inner circle once it turned out that her son was dating Harry Potter's daughter and your mother was all chummy with MY mother. Suddenly, you didn't seem like such a bad catch, after all."

Lily looked at me defiantly, as though she expected me argue. I couldn't. I knew full well that Cassandra's family was delighted we were dating, because we were accepted into that crowd again. And I was quite certain that the "Potter stamp of approval" had played a large part in it. So, I just said, "We did promise each other we'd be honest with each other. I won't deny it; a lot of those people did start looking at us differently after you and I…. You know that's how that society works."

Lily was quiet for a long moment and then said, rather unexpectedly, "I honestly did think your mother liked me."

I couldn't help but let out a laugh at that. "My mother adored you. She barely spoke to me for two weeks after we split up. It was all I could do to stop her from going to the States and hunting you down herself."

Lily appeared to give that some thought and then nodded. "Well, that's good to know." Shaking my head, she added, in an odd tone, "I was happy that I could help her, because it made _you_ happy that she was happy. I have some regrets from our time together, but I won't regret that."

Before I could say anything to that, she looked me straight in the eyes and said, "I didn't realize, though, that it wasn't just your mother. Is people's approval that important to you, Scorpius? That you would set aside their actual personality to have a seat at their table?"

Now, I was starting to get very annoyed. How could she possibly think I'd date someone just to gain some stupid approval from a group of people I could barely stand? "That's not what it's about. I'm not an idiot, Lily. Did the thought ever occur to you that I might just LIKE Cassandra?"

"Uh…No. Not really. Have you MET her?" Then, she let out an annoyed huff and muttered under my breath, "If your mother really did adore me, she sure has a funny way of showing it. Tossing you at the first spoiled debutante she could get her hands on."

"No, she didn't," I told her, in complete honestly. "Not for a long time. And that was only because she was sick and tired of me -." I broke off, not wanting to say that she'd been sick of me moping after Lily. "She just wanted me to see someone, she didn't care who it was. Cassandra's mother suggested it and she went along with it. At first, I just did it because I needed a date for some bloody Ministry ball, but then it turned out she was fun to be with—."

"Yes," Lily broke in. "All of Slytherin knows how much fun she is to be with."

Aghast, I shot her a dirty look. I couldn't tell Lily the details of what Cass had been through, so I just said, tightly, "That's uncalled for. Cassandra's a perfectly decent -."

"How long, then?" Lily interrupted again.

Thrown off, I frowned. "What?"

"How long have you two been… an item?"

"About a year," I shot back.

"_A year_?" Lily turned pale, suddenly looking like she was going to be ill. "What do you even _talk _about? Her hair?"

"Don't say it like that," I answered, starting to feel bad for Cassandra. For the rest of her life, she'd have people talking about her like this, no matter how much she changed. "We have a lot in common," I started, "Our fathers do business together, our mothers travel in the same circles…."

"Oh, what a match made in heaven," Lily cut in, again. "Are you shopping around for matching manors? Do you spend hours counting up your house elves and comparing notes on whose vault in Gringotts is bigger?"

Lily's cheeks were flushed and I looked her over. I considered telling her she was being an immature idiot, but I knew that when she lost her temper, there was really no going back from this. So instead, I just said, in a dry tone, "Yes, that's exactly what we do. In fact, we have a date to polish our family silver this evening."

Lily ignored the comment, which wasn't surprising. But she did seem to calm down somewhat. "Scorpius, do you know what she was like at Hogwarts and how she used to -."

"No, not really, and I don't want to hear it," I interrupted. After Rose, Albus, and Sabena had all but staged an intervention for me, I was sick of it. I didn't need another Weasley-Potter to jump to conclusions. Cassandra had forbidden me from telling anyone the real story, so I could only defend her in vague terms. "She was two years behind me at Hogwarts, so I didn't really-."

"I was two years behind you at Hogwarts," Lily broke in.

"Yes, and clearly I didn't know you that well, either, did I?" I shot back, thinking about all those years I thought I'd figured her out and then she'd gone off and changed the rules on me. "And are you the same person you were then? People change, Lily. It's not fair to judge someone by… by… whatever happens in the past."

An odd expression came across her face. "Scorpius. It's not the same thing. Not like what happened with you and your family all those years."

A thousand conflicted feelings went through me and I remembered all those times I had confided in her. Told her about my deepest, darkest dreams and secrets. My ambitions. In the end, it hadn't mattered. She'd still walked away. So, all I could say was, "How would you know?"

She looked stricken and looked away.

"So, a year, then?" Her voice was rough and harsh. "That's how long you've been seeing her?"

"Yes." I looked down at her, trying to figure out what to say. Wondering why we were even having this conversation. "It's easy, Lily, with her. And, yes, our parents seem to be happy about it. And I won't apologize for it. In case you've forgotten, _you're_ the one who left ME."

Her mouth opened and her eyes blazed. "I did not LEAVE you! You're the one who couldn't WAIT for me! All I needed was some time, to figure things out. To live my life and create a career for myself. Just a few years. And our relationship wasn't important enough for you to be able to just damn well WAIT for it to sort itself out!"

"Wait for you?" I sucked in a breath and stared down at her. "I've spent my entire bloody life waiting for you, Lily. Waiting for you to get older, waiting for you to realize I exist, waiting for you to acknowledge me, waiting for you to be ready to decide our relationship could work, waiting for you to love me like I -." I broke off and then stared down at the floor, not trusting myself to continue. Finally, I just finished, "I couldn't wait anymore, Lily. I can't."

Completely silent, Lily just stared back at me, looking rather uncertain.

"Besides, Lily," I added, a little roughly, the words coming out before I could stop them, "I hardly think you're allowed to judge. You waited a whole two _weeks_ before you moved on."

"What? No, I didn't!"

She was actually going to deny it? "Eric?" I said, slowly, watching her try to refresh her memory. "Edison? Elaina's brother? I read the article; I saw the picture of the two of you with your arms around each other. You spent the entire article going on and on about what a great time you both had together."

I had to stop myself from going on and quoting bits of the bloody article, because that would be tantamount to admitting I'd memorized the damn thing.

Lily actually appeared to give that some thought. Like she needed to sort through all the guys she'd picked up over the years in various countries. "We weren't on a date," she finally stated, rather firmly. "We spent two days together, he showed me around the state. That's all."

"Really?" I knew I was sounding like a jealous moron, but I couldn't help but add, "Maybe in the States, they don't call that a date, but in England it still qualifies as one."

Lily put her hands on her hips and reiterated, curtly, "It was not a date. In fact, he asked me out and I turned him down. Much the same way I've turned down every OTHER guy that's asked me out over the years."

Eyeing her skeptically, I tried to tamp down on the happiness that flooded through me at the idea that she hadn't been with anyone since we broke up. Then, I felt guilty. What right did I have to judge her when I was with someone else? She could sleep with a bloke in every port and I had no reason to stop her. Neither one of us were in any position to judge.

I let out a resigned sigh. "Lily. What are we doing? It doesn't matter. Who you see is none of my business. And who I see is none of yours."

Lily looked down at her black heels, avoiding my gaze. And then, in a low voice, she asked, "Do you love her?"

Immediately, Lily looked like she regretted asking the question, but she lifted her eyes and met my gaze steadily, clearly waiting for an answer.

I didn't know what to say. The immediate response that leapt to mind was that I would probably never love anyone ever again. But she didn't want to hear that. Instead, I started to tell her it didn't matter. "Lily… I…."

Right then, Cassandra walked into the room again. This time, she was holding a cup of steaming tea in one hand. With a big grin, she handed it to me. "Here you are, love."

I took it and then glanced back at Lily, who'd taken a visible step back towards the door, putting distance between us. She looked at the two of us and then said, in a distant voice, "Well, so glad you're feeling better, Scorpius. Take care of yourself."

Once she'd left, Cassandra turned to me and laughed. "She's still in love with you."

"No, she's not." I shook my head.

Cassandra studied me for a moment and asked, in a solemn voice, suddenly looking very serious. "Are you still in love with her? I know you've always denied it before, but… are you?"

Staring down at the tea in my hand, I lied, "No."

She didn't look like she believed me, but she just nodded and smile. "You're not going to drink that tea, are you?" Cassandra said, knowingly, as she took it back from my hand. She took a sip and made a face. "Which is a good thing, because the hospital teashop is terrible. Let's get you home and I'll make you a decent spot of tea."

**xxx**

After the brief encounter with Lily at the hospital, it was almost impossible to get her out of my mind. In fact, everywhere I turned, the world seemed to conspire to remind me of her. One evening, when we were on our way to the theatre, we were running late and I asked Cassandra to grab a pair of cufflinks for me out of the box I kept them in, while I quickly changed my clothes out of my work clothes.

She started picking through them and then pulled out a pair with a curious expression on her face. "Why do you have Ravenclaw cufflinks?"

Startled, I stopped in the middle of buttoning up my shirt. "Uh…." Then, I lied, "Gag gift from Al. I have one for Gryffindor and Hufflepuff somewhere, too."

"Oh." Cassandra shrugged, apparently satisfied with the answer. "How about the Malfoy coat of arms? Daddy will be there and you know how he LOVES how ancient your house is. Only one as ancient as ours."

"Sure," I said, agreeably, although normally I would have insisted on a pair of Slytherin cufflinks just for that reason alone. I disliked her father intensely. "Fine."

She walked up to me and dropped them in my hand with a concerned look. "Are you all right?"

When we got to the theatre, I found – much to my dismay – that Albus and Sabena were there, with Rose and someone she'd brought along as a date. I hoped to Merlin that Cassandra didn't ask Al about the cufflinks. I considered telling Cassandra we should avoid them.

It proved impossible, because Al saw me almost immediately and called me over. So, I walked over to him with Cassandra. When I got closer, I overheard the tail end of Sabena and Rose's conversation.

"Yes, Domingo REYES. THAT Domingo Reyes," Rose was saying.

Sabena's eyes were wide. "NO! And she had no clue?"

"No idea! I swear, only my cousin could sleep with a Quidditch sex god and not be able to TELL. But she told me -"

When I stopped in front of them, Rose broke off, staring at me with her cheeks a little pink.

"Ah… which cousin was this?" I asked, smiling a bit. Grateful that there was no reason for cufflinks to come up in this conversation, I explained to Cassandra, "Rose has about a hundred cousins."

"Yes, I remember," Cassandra said, nodding a little uncomfortably. She had not yet figured out to manage being around Rose and Sabena after the unfortunate incident at the ball. Everything she said seemed to rub them the wrong way. "There were a lot of Weasleys at Hogwarts when I was there."

Rose's eyes flashed at Cassandra and, sure enough, she looked a little offended by the comment. "Well, Scorpius, if you must know," she flashed me a falsely sweet smile, "It was Lily." She shot another look at Cassandra, as if to say, _take that. _

Cassandra merely looked confused, but I felt my heart freeze. Years of experience made it easy for me to hide my reaction. With a careful smile, I flicked off an imaginary piece of lint from my sleeve and said, in a cool voice, "Well, she never did know her Bludger from her Beater."

Looking a bit chagrined, Rose replied, awkwardly, "It wasn't a big deal, it was…."

Just then, she was cut off by a wizard walking by in usher robes. "Everyone, the curtain goes up in five minutes. Please, find your seats."

I grabbed Cassandra's arm and pulled her away. "We'll see you after the play."

**xxx**

As month or so later, something that happened that pushed thoughts of Cassandra and Lily out of my mind. One evening, I was sitting in the Auror department, finishing up some reports when I looked up and saw my mother's swan Patronus materialize in front of me.

"_Quick. Come to St. Mungo's. Your Father's ill." _

Without giving it much thought, I immediately apparated to the front of the hospital. Once I was in, I rushed to the inquires desk and figured out where he was. I learned he was on the fourth floor and immediately went in search of him.

When my mother saw me, she stood up and came to me with a bit of a cry. Automatically, my arms wrapped around her and I patted her back until she calmed down.

I pulled back to ask her, with a frown, "What happened, Mum?"

"I'm not sure." She looked bewildered. Her normally impeccable hair looked slightly messy. "I found him in the study when I went to give him some tea; he'd fallen. He hasn't woken up."

I looked around and saw an apprentice healer standing by, looking slightly clueless. "You," I said, sharply. "Do you know what's going? Where's the Head Healer?"

"We're still running some tests," he answered, looking a little irritated. "Obviously, he's not conscious so we have to rule out -."

"What are you, ten?" I looked him over. He looked like he hadn't even taken his OWLs, yet. "Where is James Potter?"

The boy swallowed nervously. "Healer Potter isn't on duty, I don't think. I don't know, I…."

"Just find me James Potter," I snapped. James and I might not be as close as I was to Al, but I knew well enough that he was a brilliant Healer. And he knew how to get things done.

He looked at me and seemed to glean that I wasn't in the mood to argue, because he immediately rushed off. Then, I entered the room with my mother and swallowed when I saw my father lying very still in the hospital bed.

Within five minutes, James came running into the room. "Scorpius? I just heard." He caught sight of my mother, who was sitting in a chair, looking very pale. Turning to the apprentice Healer he had in tow, James said, sharply, "Get Mrs. Malfoy a cup of hot tea, with a lot of sugar." Then, to me, he said, "What's going on?"

With a flick of his wand, he brought the chart to him and began flipped through the chart as I explained that I'd just arrived and what my mother had told me.

With a frown, he snapped it shut. "It's either spell damage or something natural."

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I raked my hair back. "I'd figured that out on my own, thanks."

James gave me a look. "Has he been in contact with anything? Any Dark objects….?"

"No, of course not," I said, tersely. "We don't have any in the Manor. You know that."

"I was thinking more along the lines of an enemy, Malfoy," James said, quietly. "Anyone hold any malice against him? Would send him an object he wouldn't recognize?"

Letting out a short laugh, I said, sardonically, "Well, the entire Wizarding world detested him for over two decades…."

"Yes, so he'd be vigilant about that," James responded, thoughtfully, as he ran his wand along my father's body with concentration on his face. Once he was done, he glanced over at me. "I don't think it's that. Think about what's going on in his life right now. Is he working on something?"

I was at a loss. I actually hadn't spoken to my father for several weeks. "I know he was working hard, but I don't think anything was going wrong. But he was working terribly long hours…."

"Wait. Let me see something." James pushed past me and then threw the curtain around, hiding the bed from me. "Scorp, you should wait outside. This may take a while."

I paced outside the door, for a long time, while my mother sat in a corner sipping the tea. Finally, James emerged, looking incredibly drained.

"Well?" I demanded.

"It was a Vigilo potion," James explained to my mother and me, who'd stood up to join us. "You said your father's been working hard lately? It helped him stay awake." He caught my eye and then gestured towards my mother.

Understanding what he meant, I turned to her. "Mum, why don't you go inside and wait there? I'll just be a moment."

My mum nodded, jerking her head and left me alone with James.

"You know it's a highly addictive substance, Scorpius," James said, in a low voice. "You'll have come across it at the Auror department, I'm sure."

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

"It'll take six months for it to leave his system completely," James continued. "I suggest you transfer him to the Manor in a few days. Hire a personal Healer. It'll be more private there. And, of course, complete bed rest and he can't work, at all for the duration."

"The press?" I asked him, anxiously.

"I'm his official Healer of record and I'll make sure the chart doesn't get in the wrong hands," he promised me.

"Thanks, James." I shot him a weak smile. "You're a good friend."

James looked a bit surprised by that, but he gave me a tired smile back. "Don't worry about it."

When I went back into the room, I told my mother an abridged version of what had happened.

"Oh, I knew he was working too hard," she answered, looking distressed. She was twisting the strand of pearls around her neck over and over. "I told him to slow down."

"Why was he working so hard, Mum?" All my life, I'd seen my father be very zealous about his work, but this was a whole new level.

"Something about the new companies," she said, with a distracted air. "I'm not sure. He never discusses those details with me."

"Why didn't he ask for help?" I asked, bewildered, as I gazed at him, lying very still on the small, white bed.

"Well, you know how it is." My mother avoided my gaze and began to fiddle with his sheets, tucking them in properly. "It's the family company… who could he turn to for help at that level?"

"Me," I said, rather bleakly. "I would have helped him. I know Malfoy Industries inside and out."

Mum kept silent for a minute. And, then, she said, rather crossly, "He won't be happy I'm telling you this, but I suppose it doesn't matter now. Your father didn't want to pressure you. He took over the company and all the responsibility at such a young age. He was only eighteen when Lucius was sent to Azkaban," she reminded me. "He wanted you to have a choice."

I felt a rush of affection for both my parents in that moment. While, at the same time, feeling incredibly guilty. "Well, there's no choice about it now. I'm going to the head office tomorrow. I want to see what Dad was working on."

xxx

Taking James' advice, we transferred my father back to the Manor a few days later and hired around the clock care for him. But I wasn't there to oversee it. I took a leave of absence from the Auror department and focused on my family's company.

For weeks on end, I spent all my time in our offices and factories, pouring through paperwork and taking tours of all of our holdings. It occurred to me that it had been a long time since I'd done so. My father had installed many new systems in place, clearly trying to take advantage of the latest spells and charms.

It didn't take me long to pinpoint what had been the cause of his concern. The new factories he'd acquired – two from Pembroke and several more from a few of Pembroke's cronies – weren't doing as well as the sale papers had suggested they would. For whatever reason, they had stopped producing at the same levels once the deeds had transferred over to my father's possession. When I compared them with the same exact sort of factory that had been owned by Malfoys for centuries, the difference in the outputs was staggering.

One night, I went through calculation after calculation, and attempted to draw out different scenarios. Recalling my visits to the various factories, I began to piece together what I thought would be a logical solution to the problems, a plan formulating in my mind.

A knock interrupted my musings. "Come in," I called out, expecting to see my mother enter.

Instead, it was Cassandra. She came in holding a tea tray. "I thought you could use a break. Your mother said you've been holed up here for days."

Startled, I looked around and realized that I had, indeed, barely left my father's study for quite a while. I looked at the pumpkin pasties and tea she'd brought in and suddenly felt famished.

"Thank you." I walked over to the coffee table and grabbed a pumpkin pasty. Then, I leaned back leaned back against the desk, looking at her with a smile. "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."

"That's because you haven't. The last time we saw each other was two months ago," she reminded me. "I've been around to visit your father and mother, but you're never here."

"Oh." Suddenly feeling guilty, I put down the pumpkin pasty and said, awkwardly, "I'm sorry. I've been busy with -."

"I know," she cut in, with an understanding smile. "Your mother told me. Apparently, you've decided to take on the mantle of heir after all, then?"

"No. This is just temporary. Until my father gets back on his feet," I told her, as I stepped away from the desk and sat down on one of the chairs across from her. I helped myself to a cup of tea.

Cassandra leaned in closer to me, resting her elbows on her knees. "Do you really believe that, Scorpius?"

I honestly didn't. The more I saw of the company, the more I was realizing it was too much for my father. And, if I were honest with myself, I was actually enjoying the work. It excited and challenged me in a way the Auror work hadn't in a long time. But, to her, I just said, "At this point, I'm just taking it one day at a time, Cass."

"Is that what you're doing with me, as well?" Cassandra asked, thoughtfully.

I almost dropped the teacup. I shot her a perplexed look. "What?"

Letting out a sigh, Cassandra said, rather abruptly, "Scorpius, I think that we've been fairly honest with each other about how things stand. It's been over a year now – I just think we should decide. To be blunt, I think I would be a good wife to you." With a slight shrug, she stated, with a hint of self-deprecation, "At least, that's what I've been led to believe from our families."

"Of course you would be…" I started, feeling like I needed to defend her.

Cass lifted an elegant hand. "Stop, Scorp. We've never been the type to sit there and declare sonnets to each other." With a sharp look in my direction, she said, "And I'm not saying I expect that. I'm just saying… you need a certain kind of a wife. And I can provide that for you." For the first time, I saw hesitation in her eyes. "We don't love each other. But we have a strong friendship, I think. And there are marriages that have been built on less."

I gave that some thought. She was right. My own parents had barely known each other when they got married. And they had a good marriage. For a second, I allowed myself to picture a future with Cassandra. The years stretching out before us; I would work diligently at overseeing Malfoy Industries and she would stay at home and attend charity function after charity function. At some point, I'd probably acquire her family's holdings, since she's the sole heir of her family's fortunes. And we'd produce exactly one child - a male heir - to take over for me some day. A so it would continue, my family's traditions, as it always had for centuries. Gliding effortlessly on.

The image filled me with a prickly sense of unease. As though I was wearing someone else's borrowed clothes, which fit me well enough that people around me couldn't tell that it was uncomfortable, but I could feel it chafe against my skin. It would be easier, I knew, to accept that as my fate, as Cass had seemed to accept as hers. But why couldn't we look for something more? Why did we have to be who our parents had been?

The tea long forgotten, I shifted on the sofa until I was facing her fully. I gazed at her searchingly. "Why?" I asked, finally. "You have your whole life ahead of you, Cass. Why in Hades would you want to settle for me?"

"Settle?" Cassandra grinned at that, her blue eyes sparkling for the first time. "You're gorgeous, Scorp. And brilliant. Honorable, sweet, kind. And, of course, the whole being an heir to a million galleon dynasty doesn't hurt, either. Any woman in her right mind would _Aveda Kadavra_ someone to be your wife."

"Your list didn't include love," I pointed out to her. "You're a romantic, Cass. You think you'll be all right with this, but you won't."

"Yes, I will," she insisted. "I told you – that girl died a long time ago, Scorp. Right now, all I care about is just…." Cassandra hesitated and then admitted, with a shadow in her eyes, "I just want to make my family happy again. Proud of me. I don't want to be known as that girl who screwed it all up. I want to move beyond that."

I understood where she was coming from. But, I replied, "This isn't the way, Cass. You're young. You have your whole life ahead of you. You're right; we do have a good friendship. Perhaps it was our mistake that we tried to make it more. So, as your friend, I'm telling you that you should want more for yourself." In a quiet tone, I added, "You need to forgive yourself, Cass. For the mistakes you made when you were a girl."

Cassandra swallowed, staring down at the ornate rug on the ground. "Scorpius, you say it like what I'm offering you isn't common. My parents had an arranged marriage. So did your parents." She glanced up at me, with a slight smile, "If they can do it, why can't we?"

"Because we deserve more," I told her, with a half-grin. "We deserve more than to just be the next in a long line of heir-producers. Let's dare to dream, Cass. Let's try to be happy with who we are and if the right person comes along, we'll go for it. But let's not try to force it, all right?"

Cass nodded, slowly, and then she got up. "I shouldn't be surprised. When we first met, you told me you would never marry a witch that made you want to get a mistress." With a grin, she said, "You're such an honorable prat, you know that?"

I got up, too, and answered, "I'm going to choose to take that as a compliment."

"I meant it as one," she said, as she walked over to me and gave me a hug. Pulling back, she kissed me on the cheek lightly and finished, "Good luck with everything, Scorp. Your family company… your parents… Lily."

I froze. "Lily? What?"

Cassandra headed for the study door and looked back. "You said it yourself, when the right person comes along, go for it. I hope you don't expect me to be the only one taking that advice, Scorp."

I sat in the study for a long while after she was gone. Then, I started to rifle through my notes again, stopping to look at some of the reports I'd received from the factory heads. The plan that had started to formulate earlier that evening clicked into place, as I began seeing a pattern.

Excited, I got up, pulling out my wand to conjure up a small set of clothes, neatly pressed. "Ezki!" I called out. "Can you come in here?"

Within seconds, Ezki presented herself. "Yes, Master Scorpius?" she croaked, while she gave me a disapproving look for waking her up.

"I know, I woke you up, I'm sorry," I told her. Then, I presented her with the clothes. "Here, I want you to take this."

Ezki stared at the small skirt and shirt I held in my hands. "Master. This is _clothes_!" she said, in a hushed voice. She looked around to make sure no one had heard her, as though the mere word were sacrilegious.

My heart twisted at her reaction. I should have done this years ago. "I know. Here." Clumsily, I knelt down before her and I put them in her hands, afraid she was going to refuse.

She took them and then stared at me, eye to eye, and then she started to cry. Putting my arm around her, I held her for a long while, until she'd cried herself out. Then, with a _crack!_ she changed into the clothes I'd just provided, her dishtowel gone.

"Now," I started, a little nervously, "I'd like to offer you employment here. With fair wages, of course, and I was hoping you'd stay, but if you'd rather go, I understand -."

"Master!" She started bawling again. "Of course Ezki won't leave you! How can you think that of Ezki?"

"No, no, of course not." Hurriedly, I handed her a handkerchief. I was starting to feel a little alarmed about my plan. Perhaps I should have a whole stock of handkerchiefs delivered beforehand.

"Ezki," I said, attempting to adopt a polite, but firm tone. "Your first… er… assignment as paid house elf is to create more of these clothes. Can you make a lot more of these? Hundreds? By the morning?"

"Of course." Ezki wiped her eyes on my handkerchief and blew her nose loudly. Then she eyed me curiously. "But why?"

"Because we are going to free every house elf that works for Malfoy Industries," I told her, quietly, feeling excitement flood through me at the words.

Ezki stared at me in shock and then immediately started crying into my handkerchief again. Letting out a sigh, I settled down on the ground next to her. This was going to be a long night.

xxxxxxx


	12. Knew, Part 3

_A/N: Sorry this update took so long. A mixture of things happened. Real Life got very busy and also Hurricane Irene went through my state (we're all okay). And then I had to focus on things at work, etc. so even though the Muse was there, I didn't have time. And, then, when I could sit down to write, I couldn't find the Muse. *grrr* Now, I was able to finally pull it together to get this down and my computer just wouldn't work at home! So… after about 6 tries… here it is. I know this probably shorter than you guys would want, but it is supposed to be the third part of "Knew", so I couldn't make it too long. _

_This is not the final chapter… it's the end of the story, but there is an epilogue._

* * *

><p><em>The third time…<em>

I knew I was in love with Scorpius Malfoy was a day before Al and Sabena's wedding.

My three year assignment was coming to a close. Rina was pressuring me to take on another three years. But I was done. I'd enjoyed traveling the world and getting to expand my horizons, but now I was ready to settle down. The past year, I'd realized that it was hard for me to connect with anyone if I didn't stop moving. Blokes would ask me out and express interest, but the connection was so fleeting that it didn't matter. It never went anywhere.

I was ready to come back to London. To find someone to be with and to put down roots. I wanted to finally begin the rest of my life and create a home. And, if I were honest with myself, the person I kept thinking of was Scorpius when I thought of that home.

I knew there was a possibility that he was still with Cassandra, but what if he wasn't? What if he was single - like me - and still searching for that elusive _thing_ with someone? Would he be willing to try again? Maybe he wouldn't, but I couldn't help but look forward to Albus and Sabena's wedding, because I knew it would give me an opportunity to get the answers to my questions. In fact, I felt I needed it, because I had a feeling that I subconciously compared every man to Scorpius and I didn't know if I'd ever get over that.

So, it was with much happiness and relief that I entered my editor's office, prepared to hand in my final travel column to her in person. For a second, I stood watching her silently, waiting for her to acknowledge me. As usual, her office was a mess and I could smell the familiar scent of quills, inks, and fresh parchment paper. It was a good scent; one that reminded me of hours spent studying at Hogwarts and all those times I would be lost in my journal at the Hollow as a young girl. Now, as an adult, I associated the smell with my job and with my editor. But those were also good memories.

She must have heard me come in, because Rina looked up at me with a slight frown and no hint of surprise to see me standing in her doorway. She took off her glasses and tossed them onto her cluttered desk. I knew her well enough to know that it was a sure sign that I wasn't going to like what she had to say. I braced myself.

"Here's the final column," I told her, walking into her room and handing the parchments to her. I settled down on one of the chairs she kept on other side of her desk, facing her, and smiled. "All finished. I am so ready for a vacation. In London." If fact, I had an appointment with a real estate agent to see some flats that afternoon, although I didn't share that piece of information with Rina.

She didn't even glance down at the column. Instead, she looked over at me. "Are you sure you won't change your mind? Your predecessor did this for -."

"Twenty years," I cut in, with an eye roll. "I know, you've told me. Repeatedly. But he died alone and friendless, didn't he?"

"No, of course not. He led a very happy life," Rina answered, crossly. Then, she pursed her lips. "What if I only make you take it on for one year at a time? No three year contract?"

I was a little surprised she was willing to do that. The reason the _Prophet_made their staff take on three year commitments was because there was too much turnover for this column. It used to be that no one made it past the first year, due to burn-out. So, about a century ago, the Prophet began to force their reporters to sign a three year commitment to make life easier on the editors.

I wasn't tempted by the offer. "No, Rina." I shook my head. "It doesn't matter. I'm ready to come back to London." Letting out a wistful sigh, I leaned back in my chair. "I'm so sick and tired of living out of hotel rooms or staying with friends. I want my own flat. I want to choose the style of rug on the floor and color on the walls. I want to make my own food, dismal as my cooking is, and unpack permanently."

I also added - to myself, but not out loud - that I was ready to go out on a second date, instead of going on an endless round of first dates that never led anywhere.

Rina fiddled with her glasses as she appeared to give that some thought. "All right," she finally said, in an abrupt tone. "That's fine. But you do have more one travel column to write for me." She stood up and handed me a file that she plucked from a leaning stack of papers that teetered on the corner of her desk.

I took the file, but was annoyed. "I submitted my final one, Rina. What is this?"

"We're devoting a whole issue to the Quidditch World Cup and its being hosted by Spain this year," she explained, as she sat back down on her chair. "I want you to go there and write about it."

Now I was even more confused and irritated. "Quidditch? That's not exactly my best subject. Send Robertson. He's the sports reporter."

Now, she looked annoyed and when my editor is annoyed, it's not a good thing. There was a gleam in her eye that was telling me I needed to shut up. "Obviously, I have already sent Robertson, Potter. I'm not asking you to write about the bloody sport. Your assignment is to write about the country and the people. The air of excitement and anticipation. Spain won the Cup last year, so how do the people feel about that? How are they handling the extra restrictions placed on them by the Ministry to ensure that Muggles don't get wind of everything? It's a travel piece, Potter. And you're the bloody best person for the job. And I always assign my best reporters to articles. Unless you, in fact, feel that you are better suited to giving out the assignments here?"

I knew better than argue with Rina when her voice hit that particular octave. "All right." I glanced down at the file in my hands. "As long as I don't have to watch Quidditch. And I have to be back by Saturday. It's my brother's wedding this weekend."

"Then what are you still doing in my office? Go." With that dismissal, she put her glasses back on and started reading through my column as though I wasn't even there.

And so, with a sigh, I went back to the Hollow to pack up my bag again and to arrange for a Floo connection to Spain. My mother, who was swept up in the last minute arrangements for Albus's wedding, was not going to be happy about this last minute trip.

**xxx**

Rifling through my notes, I sat at the hotel lobby's bar and took another pull from my bottle of butterbeer. Realizing that it was empty, I turned to the young wizard behind the bar and asked for another in my accented Spanish. With an irritated scowl, I glanced down at my watch.

Twenty minutes late. Typical. Trust a professional Quidditch player to think that a mere reporter wasn't worth being on time for. Not for the first time since I'd arrived in Spain, I cursed Rina for giving me this assignment. Although, if I were honest with myself, it hadn't been that bad. The excitement of hosting the Wizarding world's most famous sporting match had swept across the entire country. Witches and wizards from all classes and all ages were equally excited, and the fact they had won last year's Cup had united the entire nation in a way that nothing had done before. Business was booming, local economy was looking up, and I couldn't help but feel enthused on their behalf, because their joy and excitement was almost infectious.

Unfortunately, that didn't mean that their Quidditch players were any more reliable. And the wait was starting to chafe, since this interview was the final piece I needed for my article. After that, I was hopping into the first Floo connection to head over to inn where my brother's wedding was being held.

The wizard behind the bar handed me a new bottle of butterbeer with a sympathetic smile. In Spanish, he asked if I'd been stood up. I responded, with complete honesty, that I had no idea. But that I'd give the bloke ten more minutes before I'd leave.

Perhaps because he felt sorry for me or because he felt I needed something to do, he came back with the latest edition of the _Daily Prophet_. Since I hadn't had a chance to read the day's newspaper, I took it from him and began flipping through it curiously. Quite a few of the main headlines were talking about major changes at the Ministry and how there were new advances in the struggle for magical creatures' rights. I saw a picture of my Aunt Hermione walking out of a meeting, the current Minister for Magic by her side, and she looked very angry. They both turned, seeming to be caught by surprise by the camera flashing, and then the Minister hurried off the photo.

That was odd. Normally, I was a bit behind on England's current events, since it wasn't always a given that I'd be able to find the most current edition of the Daily Prophet. (When you don't have a permanent address, it's hard to get a subscription.) But I would have thought that I would have heard of something involving my aunt if she was making head way into this project of hers. I made a mental note to ask her about it at the wedding (and to see if she'd give me an exclusive interview) and started to scan the article to get a sense of what was going on.

I was interrupted by a voice behind me saying, with much amusement, "Butterbeer this time? No martini or cherry? What a pity."

Startled, I snapped the paper shut and turned around. Sure enough, there was Domingo Reyes. Staring at me with those dark, dark eyes.

I blanched. "What… I thought I was meeting with Alberto Cirino?"

Domingo shrugged. "Alberto is in training. I have the weekend off, so our coach sent me."

I had utterly forgotten that Domingo played for Spain. I mean, I probably had a vague recollection, but I'd buried it deep down, since I really didn't like thinking about that night.

Seemingly unaware of my discomfort, Domingo gestured to the stool next to mine and asked, "May I?"

I wanted to refuse. To grab my things and make a hasty exit. After all, was it really necessary to get a Quidditch player's point of view for my article? But then I scolded myself for being a coward and gave myself a lecture. _Pull it together, Lily. You're a professional and this interview is all you need to finish your bloody damn article and then you're off to Al's wedding. _

"Yes, of course," I forced out, with a semblance of a smile. "Go ahead."

Frantically, I looked down at my notes and tried to sort out my jumbled thoughts. Then, I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and paled even more. There, on the society page of the _Daily Prophet_, was a picture of Scorpius with his arm around Cassie Pembroke's waist as they exited a posh jewelry store on Diagon Alley. Both seemed unaware that they'd been caught on camera.

The blurb under the picture read: _"Shopping for an engagement ring? Power couple Scorpius Malfoy and Cassandra Pembroke emerged from a jewelry store… are wedding plans in the air? Malfoy and Pembroke both belong to two of the oldest pureblood families in England's Wizarding world. A marriage between the two would create a super-dynasty to rival…." _

Tearing my gaze away from the paper, I stopped reading. My heart twisted; my stomach churned.

"Are you all right?" Domingo cast a sharp look over me and then his eyes traveled to the paper.

"I'm fine." If I wasn't fine, it didn't matter. I had no intention of pouring my heart to this man. Instead, I forced myself to focus and grabbed my notes. In a brisk tone, I said, "Well, we should get on with it, then. Tell me, how do you feel about your country hosting…."

After about an hour, the interview was finally over and I was worn out from pretending that everything was perfectly lovely in my universe. While I asked Domingo nonsensical questions about Spain and his team, a part of my brain was still stuck on the picture in the _Daily Prophet_. I knew my family avoided talking to me about Scorpius (sometimes to my detriment, as I'd found out when I had stopped by the hospital a year ago), but surely they would have told me if he was ENGAGED. Wouldn't they have?

"Lily?" Domingo said my name with a little exasperation, as though he'd been trying to get my attention for a while now. "Are we done? Do you need any more?"

Blinking slightly, I focused on him. "What? Oh, yes. We're done." I snapped my notebook shut and put my quills and things back in my attaché. "I have enough. Thank you for meeting with me, Domingo."

"So, then, are we going to pretend that we never slept together?" Domingo was assessing me with a bold, measuring look and his finger circled around the rim of his firewhiskey glass lazily.

Taken aback by the blunt question, my eyes flicked towards him warily. "I would prefer it that way, yes. That wasn't exactly my finest hour." I smiled a bit, to show him it wasn't personal.

"It was much longer than an hour," Domingo reminded me, with an answering grin of his own. "Now you wound my ego."

Surveying him for a moment, I admitted, "Look, it was nice. But… I'm afraid I may have given you the wrong impression. I'm not normally like that."

Nodding slowly, he looked down at his half empty glass. "That makes me happy." Then, rather abruptly, he said, "I'd like to take you out to dinner and do it right this time."

"To be honest, I'm not looking for that, Domingo," I told him truthfully. "Over the years, I've learned that long distance relationships don't work. So, I'm not interested in dating someone where I already know I have no future."

Also, I had no clue why, but I couldn't stop myself from staring down at Scorpius's picture and wondering how hard it would be to break up his engagement. And then I hated myself for having that terrible thought.

Domingo grinned at me and waved a hand, dismissive of my concerns. "I'm retiring after this season. Moving back to England." He leaned forward and said, "And I'm not saying we have to have a relationship. Let's go out to dinner and we'll see where it goes from there."

I was sorely tempted. I'd spent the past year attempting to get Scorpius out of my system and had arrived at the conclusion that it was impossible until I'd settled down somewhere long enough to date someone properly. And now, I had photographic evidence that he was still with that Pembroke twat, while I wasn't any closer to moving on. Domingo Reyes was handing me a solution in a gift-wrapped package.

What were my options? Go back to England, single and quite pathetic, while I stood by and watched the Malfoys and Pembrokes plan the wedding of the century? Or go home with a professional Quidditch sex god on my arm? It was clear as day what the proper course of action was.

So, I opened my mouth and said, "No, I'm really flattered. But you're not my type."

He looked a bit taken aback, but then he glanced down at the discarded newspaper and one brow rose. "Clearly," he said, in a dry tone.

"No, it's not that." I turned the paper over and shoved it aside. "I mean, yes, he is someone I still have feelings for, but this goes deeper than that." Leaning in, I touched his sleeve to get him to understand. Peering up at him, earnestness in my tone, I explained, "I don't want to use you. I already know we won't suit and if I were to take you up on your offer I would only be doing it to assuage my wounded pride or some nonsense like that. And that's just not right."

Domingo ran one hand over his mouth and gazed down at me thoughtfully. "Well, that's rather… kind of you." It was clear he wasn't used to being turned down and was rather at a loss on how to proceed. Finally, he said, with a slight smile, "I suppose this is the point where I should ask you if you have a sister?"

At that, I couldn't help but laugh. "Actually, I'm related to several women who would qualify." Tilting my head to side, I pondered him for a moment. "Did you, by any chance, go to Hogwarts? I don't recall seeing you there during my time."

Clearly perplexed, he shook his head. "No, I went to Durmstrang."

"Right." I nodded. Then, I leaned in and asked, "So… you have this weekend off, you say? How do you feel about weddings? And blind dates?"

**xxx**

Domingo tugged at the collar of his robes a little uncomfortably. "I cannot believe I allowed you to talk me into this. I normally have no problems finding my own dates. And I hate weddings."

With absolutely no guilt, I shrugged and then brushed off a bit of the cinder that still clung to my travel robes. We'd just arrived at the inn where the wedding was taking place.

"I wasn't the one who talked you into it. The picture I showed you of Rose winning the Hogwarts House Cup in her seventh year is what talked you into it," I reminded him. "And you get to attend Harry Potter's son's wedding. Added bonus, I would say, for any wizard."

"Speaking of…" Domingo looked around, appearing to be quite bewildered by the homey and simple surroundings. "I would have thought your family would have chosen a more… modern… setting for a wedding?"

"Our cousin, Victoire, got married here several years ago and apparently, it holds some special memory for Al and Sabena or something," I explained with an eye roll. Actually, this inn had hosted four Weasley weddings leading up to this one. It was ridiculous. At this rate, we might as well have bought the inn ages ago.

"Oh, there you are, Lily!" My mother interrupted our conversation as she came hurrying towards me. "I was afraid you'd miss the dinner!"

"Of course not. Wouldn't dream of it."

It was Friday night and we were all to gather around for a traditional family dinner, followed by what had now become a Weasley wedding tradition: a game of Quidditch. Tomorrow would be the day of the wedding and then, on Sunday, everyone would apparate or Floo back to their respective homes.

Mum looked at Domingo with a strange light in her eyes.

"Oh, where are my manners?" I turned to Domingo and started to make introductions. "Mum, this is Domingo Reyes. He's my guest for the wedding. Domingo, this is my mum. Also known as Ginny Weasley-Potter."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Potter," Domingo said, with his patented charming smile.

"Of course." My mum nodded and then looked him over critically. "You cost me a considerable sum of gold last year. I was betting on Ireland taking the Cup."

Domingo laughed, as though this wasn't first time he'd heard that complaint. "I would apologize, but I find that I'm not sorry."

At that, she grinned, her brown eyes lighting up mischievously. I had a sense that she was remembering her own professional playing days. "No, you shouldn't be." Then she turned to me and said, in a brisk tone, "Lily, you need to go up to Sabena's rooms. The bridesmaids are having one final fitting; I'll need to make sure your dress still fits properly. I'll see to Domingo and make sure he gets a room." With an apologetic look towards Domingo, she added, "You'll have to share, I'm afraid. Most likely with Hugo and James."

As she walked away with Domingo, I stood still for a moment and looked around searchingly. I knew that I'd have to deal with Scorpius at some point since he was Al's best man. But he was more than likely off doing best man duties, because he was nowhere to be found as I made my way to the bride's rooms.

And I told myself, again and again, that the hollow feeling that I felt in the region of my chest was relief and not sadness.

**xxx**

I managed to sneak into the inn's kitchen at a time when no one was there. Thankfully. It was the only place not crawling with members of my family. I'd only just managed to escape the fitting in Sabena's room, where Sabena was having a hysterical fit because she was convinced her wedding dress looked hideous and that she was too fat. Her sisters, all three of them, were anxiously trying to soothe her and I slipped out. I hadn't had a chance to eat anything all day and I was hungry.

I'd just taken a bit out of a pumpkin pasty I'd stolen from the counter when I heard Rose say from behind me.

"You look like a squash. Or… wait… a lemon? If you were taller, I'd say you looked like a banana."

Turning to my cousin, I popped the last of the pasty in mouth and glanced down at the pale yellow, ruffled dress I wore. "It is terrible, isn't it?"

Rose stepped back and surveyed me frankly. "It's revolting. What was Sabena thinking?"

"It's a summer wedding. And her sisters have brunette hair and that wonderful English rose complexion," I told her, wrinkling my nose. "She didn't realize how bad it would look with my freckles and orange hair until it was too late. I missed the first four fittings because I was travelling."

Rose nodded. "Oh, so it's your fault then?"

"Utterly." I crammed another pasty in my mouth and started looking about for something to wash it down with. Finding a butterbeer, I immediately popped it open and drank down half of it. "Ugh, I am starving. When's dinner?"

"Seven. On the dot."

I glanced down at my watch and let out a despondent sigh as my stomach growled in protest. "Only five hours to go, then."

My cousin, who is fully aware of our genetic need to eat at regular intervals, flicked her wand and door opened to reveal a full pantry of food. A package of crisps came soaring out and I caught it gratefully.

"Thanks." I ripped it open and began shoveling them into my mouth.

"No problem," Rose said, dryly. "Hugo already figured out where the food was the last five times we were here." Then she looked at me with an odd expression. "Speaking of Hugo… Uh… Lily… please tell me that wasn't Domingo Reyes out there on the lawn with him? Please tell me I'm losing my eyesight in my old age?"

"No, you're not. It was Reyes." I started to tell that I had brought him to meet HER, actually, when she cut me off.

"Lily!" Rose looked aghast. "I can't believe I actually have to point out to you that bringing your one-night stand as a date to a family wedding is not a good idea."

Before I could respond, I heard something behind me and I whirled around, right as someone said, "Excuse me, I didn't realize you were in here."

It was Scorpius. My cheeks flamed a bright red and I shot Rose a dirty look.

Rose shrugged helplessly, her own face flushed a bit. With a groan, she announced, "I'm going to find a spell that filters everything I say. Honestly, this is becoming a little ridiculous." With an apologetic look cast my way, she started to edge past me and Scorpius to leave the two of us alone. "I'm just going to let you two…. Catch up."

After she'd left, a silence descended in the kitchen and I focused my eyes on anything but him. The gleaming copper pots and pans hanging from the ceiling. The large, old-fashioned sink along one side. The fresh batch of pumpkin pasties still cooling on one counter.

Scorpius broke the silence. "So, Reyes is your date then?"

"No. He's not my date." Finally, I looked his way. He was still standing near the doorway, his hands shoved into his slacks' pockets. He wore a grey shirt, which made his eyes take on a smoky hue. "He's here as my guest."

"There's a difference?" There appeared to be slight edge to the question, but it was so slight I couldn't tell if I'd imagined it.

"Yes, there is," I answered, in all honesty. Then, I took a deep breath, deciding to tackle the situation head on. Kind of like tearing off a bandage after one's been hurt. "So, I see that congratulations are in order?"

Looking mystified, he asked, "For what?"

"Your engagement?" I thought back to the article. I supposed it had just ventured a guess that Scorpius was getting engaged. Not that he had. "You and Cassie?"

"Cassie and I broke up," Scorpius responded, in a flat tone. "About four months ago."

"Oh." Confused, I said, a bit awkwardly, "But I saw a picture of the two of you in the -."

"_Prophet_?" Scorpius cut in. With a grimace, he raked an agitated hand through his hair. "That was an old picture. We were getting a necklace for my mum... her birthday. For whatever reason, the _Prophet_decided to run it as a recent news item." With a sardonic look towards me, "They should really invest in better reporters."

A rush of a relief went through me and I decided not to be offended. Instead, I just said, "That's the gossip column for you. They never fact check." Inwardly, I was doing a little dance and feeling a lot better about the entire world. I could have sworn that a bird starting chirping outside the window and the sun was suddenly shining more brightly than before. Outwardly, I plastered a sympathetic smile on my lips and said, "I'm so sorry… I hope you're all right."

Scorpius's lips twitched, as though he were trying to hold back laughter. "I think I'm holding up all right. It was touch and go there for a while, but I persevered."

My eyes narrowed on him and I was about to respond to his sarcasm when my brother came rushing into the room.

"Scorpius, there you are!" James looked a little frazzled. "For the love of Gryfindor, man, you cannot leave me with him. He's gone mental."

Scorpius looked a little alarmed. "Albus? What do you mean? He was fine when he sent me down here to find him some firewhiskey."

"Well, take it up to him already! He needs it. Going on and on about cufflinks." James shook his head in disgust. "And the ring. I swear, if he makes me take it out and show it to him ONE more time, I will not be held accountable for my actions."

This time, Scorpius didn't hold back his laughter. "He's convinced you're going to lose it."

Rolling his eyes, James shot back, "Then you bloody well keep it. If I'd known that being a groomsmen was going to be such a pain in the arse -." At that moment he broke off and realized I was in the room. "Ah, Lily. Good, you can go deal with him." Then he looked me over critically. "You look terrible. What are you supposed to be? A lemon drop?"

With a grimace, I looked down at my dress. "You have to wear dress robes this color, so I wouldn't talk if I were you."

"No, Sabena changed it," Scorpius told me. "We're wearing black robes with yellow vests."

"Ah, so you'll look like bumblebees, then?" I pointed out, with a falsely sweet smile. "Such an improvement."

Both James and Scorpius exchanged a confused look, as though they hadn't made that connection until I'd pointed it out.

"Anyway, I better go back up," I said to James. "I can't deal with Albus. I have to go deal with the bride having a meltdown about her dress."

James shuddered. "This. This is why I never plan on getting married. Sane people go utterly mental during weddings."

"Yes," Scorpius answered, in a dry tone. "_That's _the reason why. It's not because you're a commitment-phobe."

With an unapologetic smile, James shrugged. "All right, it's _one _of the reasons."

"Anyway, you go deal with our brother, while I go check on our future sister-in-law." As I started to move past Scorpius to get to the exit, I murmured in a low voice, "I'll catch up with you later?"

There was an odd expression on his face, but Scorpius nodded silently.

As I left the kitchen, I heard James say to Scorpius, "Any mead here, mate? I need a drink."

**xxx**

As it happened, Scorpius and I weren't able to catch up with each other until much later. That evening, I was surrounded by my entire family in the busy and bustling dining room. It seemed as though my already quite large clan had grown by leaps and bounds since the last I'd seen them. Victoire and Teddy had just had baby, a boy who joined his energetic two year old sister.

Dominique, who'd gotten married a little over a year ago, had a one month old baby girl who I hadn't had a chance to meet. Molly and Lucy had both married within months of each other a couple of years ago, and Molly was pregnant; Lucy has twin boys who were about six months old. Fred was engaged and had brought his fiancé to the wedding; it was the first time I was meeting her, as well. And I wasn't surprised to see that Scorpius had brought Elaina to Al's wedding, since I had heard she'd gotten quite close to Albus and Sabena.

I spent so much time trying to catch up with everyone and meet new people that I didn't have a second to myself. I also found myself in great demand, because people kept wanting me to tell them stories about all the places I'd been and for me to tell them things I didn't include in my articles. I was enjoying myself, jumping from table to table; cooing over my new nieces and nephews, listening to my uncles tease me, and getting coddled by my grandparents and aunts.

There was something wonderfully relaxing and soothing about being with my family; surrounded by people who loved me and cherished me because I belonged to them and they belonged to me. Even though I was miles away from the Hollow and I hadn't yet found a flat to call my own, I still felt like I was home.

After everyone had stuffed themselves to the gills and repeatedly declared that they couldn't eat another bite, it was time to adjourn outside to play the traditional game of family Quidditch. As usual, my parents were team captains.

Victoire, who was sitting on a comfy chair that Teddy had conjured up for her with the baby in her lap, immediately announced, "I'm going to have to sit this one out."

Teddy, as though in solidarity, added, "Same here."

Uncle George rolled his eyes, "You're both too young to be acting so old." Then he grimaced and made a show of rubbing his back. "Although, I might be getting too old for this myself."

That set Uncle Bill and Uncle Charlie off and, before we knew it, half of the original players were backing down. I had just started to think that we might have to cancel the match (not that this filled me with pain, after all I had no interest in the game itself) when Albus pushed Scorpius forward. "Scorp can play. He was a fairly decent Beater at Hogwarts."

Scorpius very much looked like he was going to argue, but my father immediately clapped him on the back and said, "Brilliant. You're on our team."

James brows rose at that. He turned to Domingo, who was standing off to the side and next to Rose, looking very amused at the entire proceedings. "Reyes. You're on our team."

"Oi, I think that's cheating," Uncle Ron protested. "That's not right."

"Why not?" Mum retorted. "If Malfoy can join in, then Reyes can join in. They're both guests at the wedding."

Uncle Ron looked at my father uncertainly. "Because he's a professional player, that's why."

"So was I," my mother shot back.

"_Was _being the operative word, Ginny," Uncle Ron answered.

"You are not suggesting I'm old, are you?" My mother's voice was dangerously high.

Aunt Hermione chose that moment to interject. "I think it's fine, Ron. Nothing in the rules against non-Potter and non-Weasley's playing. So both Scorpius and Domingo are welcome to join in." My aunt was using that no-nonsense voice she uses in only two instances: when she's arguing a legal argument or when she's dealing with a Weasley dispute.

After a little more back and forth, the final teams were decided and everyone took their places on the field. Letting out a sigh, I conjured up a small chair and settled down next to Victoire, where she was nursing her baby. Her daughter, Genevieve, came toddling over to me. I caught her up in my arms and put her on my lap, holding her chubby little body close as she drifted off to sleep. As I snuggled her closer, I breathed in her special baby scent and placed a light kiss on her blonde head.

Victoire said to me, in a quiet undertone, "You're looking rather comfortable with Gen there. Since when did you become a kid person?"

Startled a bit out of my reverie, I looked over at her. "I'm not. I mean… what do you mean? I always liked kids. There just weren't many about, since I was one of the youngest."

Pursing her lips thoughtfully, she disengaged from her son and then put him over her shoulder to burp him. "Anyone special in your life? If you do the math, then you and Rose are next, you know."

I looked over at the field, where Scorpius had just hit a Bludger and knocked it towards Rose, who had to quickly zoom out of the way and she lost a scoring goal because of it. With a slight smile, I said, "No pressure or anything."

But I said it without the usual bite. For some reason, her words didn't make me seize up in panic like they would have a year or so back.

"No, no pressure or anything," Victoire answered, with a grin of her own. Her grin reminded me that she may look exactly like Aunt Fleur, but she's always had Uncle Bill's personality. She's always taken her position as oldest cousin in our generation very seriously. "We've missed you, Lily. You coming back anytime soon to settle down? I don't want my kids growing up not knowing their Aunt Lil."

"I don't want that, either." Gazing down at Genevieve, I smiled. She burrowed in closer to me as a warm breeze ruffled her silky hair and I conjured up a small blanket to place over her tiny body. "Yeah, I'm coming back. Meeting with a real estate agent on Monday, in fact. To find a new flat."

"Oh, you know who you should talk to? Roxanne. Ever since she moved to Albania to be with her boyfriend, she's been having difficulty finding a good tenant for her London flat. I'm sure she'd be happy to sub-let it for you."

I looked over at the field again, this time making out the graceful figure of my cousin Roxanne as she swooped around, making one goal after another. She was playing Chaser on my mother's team, her long, dark hair flying out behind her. "So Uncle George finally came to terms with it? Her vampire?"

"Well," Victoire appeared to give it some thought. "It helps that she stopped boycotting all the family events he wasn't invited to. She was acting like an absolutely twit for a while there."

I nodded. I had noticed that she hadn't brought him to the wedding, but hadn't want to ask her about it, for fear of it hurting her feelings.

"But, yes, I think Uncle George and Aunt Angie came around. He'll still have to avoid the Veela part of the family, of course," Victoire added, in an absentminded way, "So I've never met him, but Teddy went out for a pint with him and seemed to think he was a decent enough bloke. And Roxie's happy, so that's all that matters."

"That's good."

We both fell silent then and focused on watching the game. My mother's team was – rather unsurprisingly – winning. But my father's team was only behind by forty points. And there were only five minutes left of the two hour time limit. In spite myself, I started to get caught up in the excitement and tension in the air as we watched James and my father both try to find the Snitch. It was obvious that it was the only way my father's team would beat my mother's. I was holding my breath and then let out a loud groan of disappointment when Domingo knocked a Bludger towards Hugo, causing Hugo to miss a near certain goal.

Victoire turned her attention away from the game long enough to say, "You're rooting for your father's team? Didn't you bring Domingo as your date?"

"No, he's not my date," I answered crossly. "He's here for Rose."

She looked a little perplexed, but didn't answer. Because, right at the moment, two things happened. One: Uncle Neville commented that there were only thirty seconds left of the game. And two: my father caught the Snitch.

A roar of happiness went through Team Gold and then his teammates caught my dad up on their shoulders. He looked triumphant and even my mum was laughing. After all, it was first time his team had beat hers since we'd started the tradition.

Everyone got up and was mingling around the field, in good spirits and clearly not in the mood to go inside to bed. Teddy grabbed Gen from me, letting me get up to go give my dad a congratulatory hug. There was a lot of good natured ribbing towards Domingo, who appeared to be taking it in stride.

At one point, Rose took me aside to whisper in my ear, "Thank you. Domingo told me why you brought him."

I pulled back to shoot her a grin. "Don't mention it. After all those years of getting asked out by blokes who went to you first? I figured I was due."

Rose made a face, but also laughed. Then she joined in the melee, leaving me standing alone and at the edge of the crowd. Suddenly, I felt a light touch on my arm. Turning, I saw Scorpius standing behind me.

"Scorp." I smiled up at him, squinting a little. His face was partially shrouded in darkness, because he was closer to the edges of the field and the lights didn't all reach there. "Congratulations on the win."

"Well, I'm not sure I had much to do with it," Scorpius answered, a bit stiffly. "I haven't played in a while."

"Don't be modest." Then, I added, rather honestly, "Or maybe you're not being modest and you did play horribly. You know I have no clue how this Quidditch thing works."

His looked past my shoulder, out into the crowd. The inflection in his voice didn't change. "Is that why you're not bothered that your boyfriend is getting rather friendly with Rose right now?"

Blinking a bit at the change of subject, I didn't bother to turn around. "No. I'm not bothered by that, because he's not my boyfriend. And that was the plan all along."

"I see."

But it was clear he didn't see. Mustering up every shred of courage I possessed (and some I didn't possess), I reached out to take his hand. He stiffened in reaction to my touch, but he didn't pull away. I figured that was a good sign.

I peered up at him, thinking I should pull out my wand and get some more light so I could see his face properly. "Scorp? Can we go somewhere to talk?"

Scorpius nodded and then he pulled me away, through some underbrush that led out to gardens surrounding the large field where the wedding would be taking place. We were separated from the rest of the wedding party by a tall hedge; the voices and laugher of my relatives was still coming through the thick green wall, but the sound was muted.

I glanced about, my nerves so fraught that I barely registered the beauty of the flowers around me and the warm summer breeze making the leaves and petals flutter and sway.

The moonlight cast a pale light on him and I was able to look at him clearly. He looked… expectant. Like he was waiting, patiently, for me to begin the conversation. But I found that once I had his full attention, I was frozen and unsure about how to proceed. I had a feeling this was going to be one of the most important conversations of my life and the weight of that settled heavily on my shoulders.

It was absurd, but I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "So, how is the Auror business going, then?"

Scorpius shot me an amused and perplexed glance, as though he wanted to ask why I'd brought him out here for such an inane conversation. Instead of commenting on it, though, he just answered, "I'm sure it's going well. You'd have to ask your father or Elaina, though. I turned in my resignation about two months ago."

That caught me by surprise. "You quit the Ministry? Why?"

Scorpius hesitated and glanced away from me. Then, perhaps in an effort to keep himself occupied, he pulled out his wand and conjured up a thick red blanket. With a flick of his hand, it unfurled and spread out on the ground next to us. Scorpius gestured towards the blanket and I accepted his silent invitation, settling down on the soft surface, my legs crossed Indian style. He lowered himself down next to me, one leg out and the other pulled towards him. Negligently, he braced his arm on his knee and looked at me for a moment before speaking.

"I'm managing Malfoy Industries now." Then, he cleared his throat and added, "My father… he fell ill a few months ago. At first it was just temporary, but now it just seems to make the most sense."

I was utterly confused. "But you loved the Auror department. It was your dream your entire life."

Looking down at the blanket, Scorpius was quiet for a moment. Then, he lifted his head and looked at me, his lips curving up into a half-grin. "Yes, I suppose. But thing is, Lily, I realized that the reasons I wanted to be an Auror weren't enough to make me continue to be one."

My brows furrowed as I processed that. Slowly, I said, "You wanted to be an Auror to change the world. To make it a better place. To make the Wizarding world look at the name Malfoy differently."

"Yes, that's it exactly." Leaning back, he contemplated the stars before he added, "And you know what I realized? I can actually do that by being the head of my family's company. In fact, I can do even more good than when I was an Auror."

"How?" I asked him, genuinely curious as to why he'd had such a change of heart.

"Like, for example, I'm working with your Aunt Hermione to have a law passed to free all enslaved magical creatures." Scorpius's gaze slanted towards me, as though to gauge my reaction. In a low voice, he explained, "I freed the Malfoy house elves, Lily. And with the financial success of that decision, I've managed to put together some preliminary reports and figures that are helping your aunt make some headway with the Minister. There were some factories where the production and subsequent profits increased drastically after I freed the elves."

My brain was whirling with this information. I had managed to glance through the article about my aunt and the meeting she'd had with the Minister, but I hadn't realized that Scorpius was part of it. The Daily Prophet must not have gotten wind of his involvement, yet. "What made you do that? Change your mind?"

With a wry smile, he straightened. "Such a tone of surprise." Gently, he reached out and tucked a stray strand of behind my ear, his fingers brushing against the sensitive skin in a tantalizing way. I had to physically hold back a sigh of disappointment when his hand dropped. "I had been wanting to do it all along, you know that. It was just never possible until I was actually in a capacity that allowed me to make decisions. It takes more than just being the heir."

"Wait, how does your father feeling about this?" I asked, in a worried tone. I knew how much Scorpius hated disappointing his family.

"Well, he was against it, initially." Scorpius shrugged, gazing off into the distance. "But I think that he was so happy that I decided to work with him that he was willing to accept any decision I made."

Feeling a surge of pride and happiness threaten to overwhelm me, I almost had to sit on my hands to keep myself from launching towards him and giving him a big hug. With some difficulty, I managed to keep my tone even and said, "I'm glad it worked out. And that you're happy." Then, a little anxiously, I confirmed, "You are happy, right? I mean, you like working at your family's company and all that?"

"Yes." His grey eyes met mine and he stated, "I'm good at it. Like I was born to do it."

When I gazed at him searchingly, I saw the truth in his statement. And I nodded. "I know. I always saw that in you. You were always so happy when you used to talk to your dad about business things. You never lit up like that over your Auror work."

Scorpius considered that for a moment and then continued, his voice soft and hesitant, "Lily, I spent a lot of time being angry at you. For leaving."

I flushed and looked down, picking at the blanket nervously.

"But I was wrong."

At that, I glanced back up at him, a faint grain of hope starting to expand in my chest.

"You were right." Scorpius's lips twisted a bit as he said this, as though he knew how much I would love hearing him say those words. "You need to go out, live life… figure out who you are. And the thing is – I think I needed that, too. All these years, I fought against the role assigned to me in my family. And I didn't even know I was doing that. I wanted to become an Auror for the wrong reasons, but I'm glad I had that time in my life to arrive at the conclusion myself that I was meant to be the head of family's… dynasty, for want of a better word. Now, I may have ended up where I was supposed to be all along, but I have no regrets about it."

My throat was tight, my heart beating rapidly. I didn't know what to say to that, so I kept silent.

Scorpius looked at me intently. "That's what you were doing, I suppose. You wanted to not have regrets, Lils. And I think – for the first time – I understand that. What if you'd stayed? Given up that column for me? We might have stayed together. We might even have ended up married. But… I think… or, no, I guess I know… you would have regretted it. For the rest of your life, you would have thought you missed out on a life that I kept you from."

Blinking back the moisture in my eyes at his words, I smiled at him. "Yes. I think so. But there's more than one type of regret, Scorp. Not a day went by where I didn't wonder…." I stopped and fixed my eyes on a rose bush that was in bloom right behind. "Let's just say that there were moments where I thought I made the wrong decision."

"There were a lot of moments where I thought you made the wrong decision, too, Lily," Scorpius responded, in a quiet voice.

Swallowing a bit, my throat dry, I managed to get out, "Why did you end things with Cassie Pembroke?" I hadn't realized I was going to ask that question until I'd said it.

Scorpius, for his part, didn't seem surprised. Instead, he appeared to give it some thought. And then said, in a rather thoughtful tone, "She's a good friend. But I think we realized that some friendships aren't meant to be more." His gaze settled on mine and he added, in a frank tone, "When I look back on it, I think I was with her for the wrong reasons."

Meeting his eyes, I asked him, curiously, "What were those wrong reasons?"

Scorpius shrugged. "It was easy with her. At least, I thought it was. But – over time – I realized that easy isn't always good." With an almost teasing note, he looked towards me and added, "Let's just say that she didn't really care whether I freed our house elves. And, unlike some people I know, wouldn't have harped on it for a year. In fact, we barely fought at all."

In a light voice, I answered, "So she was a doormat, eh? Explains why you were with her for so long."

Rolling his eyes slightly, Scorpius responded, "No. She wasn't a doormat. She was… just there."

I gave that some thought. And then, instead of going down that path, I decided it was time to stop dwelling on the past and to move forward to the future. Taking a deep breath, I looked across at him and confessed, "I still love you, Scorp. I don't think I ever stopped loving you, if I'm honest with myself."

Seemingly caught unaware, Scorpius froze at my words, the widening of his eyes the only indication that he'd heard me.

Before he could speak, I put my hand out and touched him on the shoulder to stop him. A bit desperately, I stated, "No, wait… let me… let me finish. I want to… just let me finish, all right?"

A bit cautiously, he acquiesced with a slight nod.

"See, the thing is…" I was nervous and my voice trailed off as I glanced around. I saw fireflies all around us, buzzing in the air and creating a symphony of light. For some reason, the beauty of it soothed me and smoothed out the rough edges of my discomfort. "You were right, too," I blurted out, my eyes going back to land on his face. "I was scared of becoming my mother. Becoming just another girl in a long line of Weasleys and Potters that ends their life at age twenty to settle down and just add to an already gigantic clan. And it scared me. Because… I didn't know who I was, Scorp. I always had this vague notion that I wanted to be a writer and I wanted to work at the Daily Prophet, but I didn't know what that MEANT."

I took a deep breath and risked a glance at him. He was still, appearing to be arrested by my words.

"My mum… she stopped being anybody when she had James. Even now, the entire world knows her as Harry Potter's wife. That's her whole identity. And then when I fell in love with you, I was so scared. What if that's who I was for the rest of my life? That my entire collection of memories and events for one hundred years would have nothing to do with me – it would be about you, or my father, or my mother, my brothers, my cousins – what did I have that was only mine? My mum - she at least had the Quidditch thing. No matter what else she does for the rest of her life, she knows she had that, you know? I wanted something like that, too."

I stared at him anxiously, trying to get the words out in a way that made sense. At that point, Scorpius nodded a bit encouragingly.

"And when we were together, I wasn't an idiot. I knew where things were going and I was… it was scary. Because I thought I was running out of time. That I'd end up becoming Lily Malfoy even before Lily Potter had a chance to live." With a slightly tremulous smile, I reached out and caught his hand in mine. "But I never stopped loving you, Scorp. I don't know if you'll believe that. But I… I've been all over the world. And I've never met anyone like you. And no one makes me feel the way you do."

I ran out of breath and steam, falling silent as I waited for his response.

After a moment of silence, he smiled a bit. "Is it my turn now? Am I allowed to speak?"

Swallowing a bit, I nodded nervously. I braced myself for what I was convinced was going to come – a gentle letdown where he informed me that he was flattered, but he was quite ready to be in a relationship with a witch who wasn't mental enough to walk away from him to go travel all over the world.

"It's always been you, Lily."

A tremor of shock went through me at his words. I could barely breathe, scared that even the slightest movement would make him change his mind.

Scorpius shifted until he was facing me on the blanket and there was merely a whisper of distance between us. He gazed down at me, his face serious but still warm. His voice low, he repeated, "It's always been you. Even when I didn't want it to be."

Again, he brushed my hair back from my cheek, but this time, his hand lingered, his fingers trailing down to my shoulder, idly tracing the line of my collarbone. I shivered again, but this time it was in reaction to his light touch. His other hand came up to cup my cheek and he ran this thumb along my lips, brushing back and forth.

"I love you," he said, with a sort of stark honesty, the words coming out in a sigh. "But if we do this, we have to do it right this time. I don't know if I can survive another break up if you suddenly have a burning desire to go live in Timbuktu for a few years."

I smiled and covered his hand, pulling it down. "I'm moving back to London. I turned down the renewal for my travel column. In fact, I'm meeting with a real estate agent on Monday to find a new place." I felt giddy at the thought, the idea of starting fresh and beginning the next phase of my life. A phase that was now going to include Scorpius.

Scorpius frowned slightly. "Why don't you just move in with me?"

Pulling back a bit, I considered him for a moment. "Scorp, when you say that we should do this right, it means more than just me not leaving. I think that means that we also have to give ourselves time." When he opened his mouth to protest, I shook my head. "No, I'm not saying this because I'm having committment issues or whatever. I'm saying… you have a lot on your plate with your family and new job. I have to figure things out at my job now that my column is finished. Why don't we just spend some time being who we are, who also happen to be together, as opposed to trying to merge our lives into one?" Gazing up at him earnestly, I added, "The pieces of puzzle will fit, Scorp. We don't need to force them together."

Scorpius gave that some thought. He didn't appear completely convinced, but he shrugged. "What is it the Muggles say? Third time's the charm? Let's see if that holds true for wizards, as well."

"It will," I promised him.

And then I closed the distance between us, wrapping my arms around him and captured his lips with my own, kissing him hard. It took a second for him to catch up, but he quickly grasped my waist and he was kissing me back, his tongue tracing the line of my lips. My mouth opened under his, letting him in and then I was falling back onto the soft blanket. His hands were wandering all over, touching and stroking the edge of my jeans, right under my t-shirt. I was lost in a swirling feeling of endless want and need, as though my body was trying to make up for years of not having him like this; feeling his weight on me as I wrapped my legs around him, dying to get as close to him as our clothes would allow.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of laughter and it seemed very close by. And then, I heard someone say, "For love of Merlin's baggy y-fronts, I knew we shouldn't have come looking for them."

Scorpius broke away from me and we both sat up. My jaw dropped in horror as I saw that most of extended family had come out into the surrounding gardens to look for us. Right there - in a cluster - were James, Albus, Sabena, Rose, a few of my aunts and uncles, along with a few other cousins, and my parents. They were all kind of laughing and making comments to each other.

Letting out a squeak of embarrassment, I clasped my hand to my mouth and closed my eyes.

Amazingly enough, I heard my mum say, with a hint of laughter in her voice, "What is it you lot always say to us? Get a room? I think that's apt advice in this case."

"Let's not give them ideas, Gin," my father hastily responded, but I could hear the smile in his words.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that Scorpius was already standing and he helped me to my feet. Then he looked out at my entire family and seemed to arrive at the conclusion that it was best to meet this head on. "Ah… this isn't what it looks like."

"Really?" James looked like he was having the time of his life. "Then you're not really doing it right, mate."

"James Sirius Potter!" My dad didn't look happy. He shook his head at James and cleared his throat, casting a glance at all my relatives. "Come on everyone. We have a lot to do tomorrow." Then he sent a sharp look towards me. "You too, Lily. I'm glad you and Scorpius sorted things out, but it's late."

I felt a flicker of annoyance go through me. I was twenty-three years old, for crying out loud. I should be able to decide when my own bedtime was going to be. I opened my mouth to tell my father so, when Aunt Hermione jumped in, unexpectedly.

"Come on, Harry," she said, with a hint of an indulgent smile. "Why not let the kids catch up? Lily's been travelling all year and this is the first chance they've had to have a good talk." She shot a meaningful look at my mother and added, "I think you know what that's like."

My father flushed a bit and my mother let out another laugh.

"Harry's right, everyone, let's go." With a final grin in my direction, my mother started to move everyone back towards the field and through the hedge, my aunt Hermione, Rose, and Sabena helping push everyone along.

When we were finally alone again, Scorpius and I exchanged a bemused look and then both burst out laughing.

When we'd gotten control of ourselves, Scorpius said, "Why do I get the feeling that I need to get used to that?"

"Because you've known us your entire life and with experience comes wisdom?" I suggested.

"Your family gatherings are a little overwhelming. You know that, right?"

I thought about my family –from my Gran and Granddad all the way down to my littlest new nieces and nephews – and my heart twisted with love and peace. I couldn't help but grin. "Yeah. But they're brilliant."

Scorpius nodded and, right before he pulled me back into his arms, he agreed. "Yes, they are. And so are you."

**~ The End ~**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Ten Reviews: <strong>

bellibella: LOL... yeah, I think that if I had Lily go out and find a sex god that this fic would be WAY too long.

CatAnne78: Thank you! Scorp was being annoying by being with Cassie, wasn't he? But he had his reasons... I could see why he'd want to move on.

OhMyJonasHP: Thank you! I suppose she could have had an affair with Domingo Reyes, but then - again - this story would have been a lot longer than I'd have liked. LOL

Sweetshortkakes: Thank you! I do think they needed to grow up a bit and - now - they're supposed to be there.

Potter1126: Wow... that was a lot of emotion! Thank you! I love that the chapter evoked that feeling in you. Are you still pissed at Scorp?

Bucky5: Aw, poor Lily. Damned if she does; damned if she doesn't. I have mixed feelings about what Lily decided to do with Reyes. On the one hand, I'm glad she got some from a hot guy. But - on the other hand - I think she tried to fill a hole in a way that wasn't very mature. Scorp tried to have another long term relationship, but Lily didn't. BUT - she never really sowed any wild oats like HE did at Hogwarts. It was part of life... she needed to experience things to grow.

bia 13: Wow, I made you cry? Thank you... what a high compliment.

teddyandlilyforever: Thank you! Rated T? Yeah... it may be Rated Mature - you'll just have to check out at my LJ if it is. LOL

LilyLunafan622: Thank you! He was still in love with her... he just didn't want to be. And Lily wasn't sleeping with Reyes as revenge as much as she was trying to move on... didn't work for her, though.

hushpuppy22: Thank you for your detailed thoughts! I think that Scorp does love himself... but it took him awhile to figure out WHO he was, too... that wasn't just a Lily thing. They both needed to grow in their own ways before their relationship could work.

: Thank you!

CatieLee: Thank you!

sassymagpie: Thank you SO much for your kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

SSJJ92: I know, I felt bad for her in this chapter. But she HAS put Scorp through the ringer, so I guess she needs a little angst, too.

cacata: Her family decided not to tell her, because they didn't want to get in the middle of all that. James didn't mention it, because he has the maturity level of a ten year old. The picture in the paper didn't make him move on, so much as it made him feel like, "Same old Lily. I keep wanting more and she can't give it." When he moved on with Cassie, it wasn't a reaction to Lily... he kind of fell into it.

Huntress3419: Thank you!

TwilightObSeSiVe: It's funny how some folks thought she was the mature one & Scorp was the immature one & others thought the opposite. One of the things - I don't know if you noticed - was that Lily was no longer jealous of Rose. She was confident in her beauty and sexuality. She knew that Reyes was hitting on her - not Rose. She's grown into a more confident person. Rose knows that Lily was jealous of her, but never really cared. She's kind of an insensitive person.

Somerlia: Thank you for such a detailed review! I think - for Scorp - he just couldn't wait anymore. Because he had no reason to believe that Lily would EVER be on the same page with him. Even Lily didn't know that.

x8xdanix6x: Oh, I'm so sorry I broke your heart! I hope you like how it all works out!

**Chapter 11:**

LilyLunafan622: He did free the elves, but he didn't do it for Lily. :) He did because it was the right thing to do & he realized that it was better for everyone if he did it. The fact that Lily was happy about it was just an added bonus. And thank you for your kind words!

Somerlia: Thank you! Yeah, he broke up with her... she wasn't right for him. But I actually didn't think she was all that bad & I expect that she and Scorp will end up good friends.

CatAnne78: LOL! He didn't do it for Lily... I thought about it, but I felt that Scorp should do this for himself... it's about his growth. It would be bad if he thought elves' should only have freedom to make an ex-girlfriend love him. ;) I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Huntress3419: Thank you!

Amanuet: Thank you for your kind words! How sweet! Let me think about the translation...

OhMyJonasHP: Thank you for your kind words! I'm glad Scorp's POV helped clear things up.

Nymphadora: Funnily enough, I considered hooking Cassie up with James. But then I wondered if it would be too icky if James slept with a girl who once slept with Scorp. And James also has a never-ending crush on Elaina.

bia 13: The epilogue should cover a lot of what you're looking for. Thank you for your kind words!

storm2011: Thank you! I hope you liked the latest update.

LilyScorpius: Um... if I went "there" then this would be a WAY longer fanfic than I wanted. The idea of the fanfic was that it was snippets of their life together at key points in their relationship. (It grew into a longer piece, unfortunately.) The epilogue should give you more closure, hopefully. And maybe my next Lily/Scorp fic will go into more intense detail. LOL

SpencerReidFan89: No huge gestures, I'm afraid. This Lily/Scorp don't have a huge gesture type relationship... However, there will be some epic moments covered in the epilogue.

Jessica682: Thank you! :)

kana117: Thank you! :)

Stargazer2000: Wow, the best one ever? That's high praise! Thank you so much!


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